Top 300 Aesop Quotes (2024 Update)
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201. “A false tale often betrays itself.”

— Aesop

202. “Precious things are for those that can prize them.”

— Aesop

203. “Straw shows which way the wind is blowing.”

— Aesop

204. “Benefits bestowed upon the evil-disposed, increase their means of injuring you.”

— Aesop

205. “What is most truly valuable is often underrated.”

— Aesop

206. “While I see many hoof marks going in, I see none coming out. It is easier to get into the enemy’s toils than out again.”

— Aesop

207. “It is easy to propose impossible remedies.” The.”

— Aesop

208. “Fools take to themselves the respect that is given to their office.”

— Aesop

209. “The Boys and the Frogs SOME BOYS, playing near a pond, saw a number of Frogs in the water and began to pelt them with stones. They killed several of them, when one of the Frogs, lifting his head out of the water, cried out: “Pray stop, my boys: what is sport to you, is death to us.”

— Aesop

210. “Plodding wins the race.”

— Aesop

211. “Each person has his strong point.”

— Aesop

212. “In serving the wicked, expect no reward, and be thankful if you escape injury for your pains.”

— Aesop

213. “I thought these grapes were ripe, but I see now they are quite sour.”

— Aesop

214. “In a crisis, give help first and then advice.”

— Aesop

215. “Misfortune tests the sincerity of friendship.”

— Aesop

216. “It is useless attacking the insensible.”

— Aesop

217. “The Fawn and His Mother A YOUNG FAWN once said to his Mother, “You are larger than a dog, and swifter, and more used to running, and you have your horns as a defense; why, then, O Mother! do the hounds frighten you so?” She smiled, and said: “I know full well, my son, that all you say is true. I have the advantages you mention, but when I hear even the bark of a single dog I feel ready to faint, and fly away as fast as I can.” No arguments will give courage to the coward.”

— Aesop

218. “Acquaintance softens prejudice.”

— Aesop

219. “If you wish me well, do not stand pitying me, but lend me some succour as fast as you can; for pity is but cold comfort when one is up to the chin in water, and within a hair’s breadth of starving or drowning.”

— Aesop

220. “We learn from the things we suffer.”

— Aesop

221. “It pays to be content with your lot.”

— Aesop

222. “The safeguards of virtue are hateful to the evil disposed.”

— Aesop

223. “Our mere anticipations of life outrun its realities.”

— Aesop

224. “The loiterer often imputes delay to his more active friend.”

— Aesop

225. “Affairs are easier of entrance than of exit; and it is but common prudence to see our way out before we venture in.”

— Aesop

226. “There can be little liking where there is no likeness.”

— Aesop

227. “Be content with what nature made you, or run the risk of earning contempt by trying to be what you’re not.”

— Aesop

228. “Time and place often give advantage to the weak over the strong.”

— Aesop

229. “If we really want something done, it is best to do it ourselves.”

— Aesop

230. “Conceit may bring about one’s own downfall.”

— Aesop

231. “None but those who work are entitled to eat.”

— Aesop

232. “AN ASS having heard some Grasshoppers chirping, was highly enchanted; and, desiring to possess the same charms of melody, demanded what sort of food they lived on to give them such beautiful voices. They replied, “The dew.” The Ass resolved that he would live only upon dew, and in a short time died of hunger.”

— Aesop

233. “It is foolish to try to imitate the skills of others.”

— Aesop

234. “All men are more concerned to recover what they lose than to acquire what they lack.”

— Aesop

235. “Try before you trust.”

— Aesop

236. “The cat always leaves a mark on his friend.”

— Aesop

237. “The Tortoise never for a moment stopped, but went on with a slow but steady pace straight to the end of the course.”

— Aesop

238. “If you are a friend, why do you bite me so hard? If an enemy, why do you fawn on me?”

— Aesop

239. “People often grudge others what they cannot enjoy themselves.”

— Aesop

240. “Your words, O Hares! are good; but they lack both claws and teeth such as we have.”

— Aesop

241. “If you don’t want to lose, you should wait for the right opportunity.”

— Aesop

242. “He is not to be trusted as a friend who illtreats his own family.”

— Aesop

243. “Pleasure bought with pains, hurts.”

— Aesop

244. “Forbear harping on what was of yore, for it is the common lot of mortals to sustain the ups and downs of fortune.”

— Aesop

245. “He collected audiences around him, and flourished and exhibited and harangued.”

— Aesop

246. “A SWALLOW, returning from abroad and especially fond of dwelling with men, built herself a nest in the wall of a Court of Justice and there hatched seven young birds. A Serpent gliding past the nest from its hole in the wall ate up the young unfledged nestlings. The Swallow, finding her nest empty, lamented greatly and exclaimed: “Woe to me a stranger! that in this place where all others’ rights are protected, I alone should suffer wrong.”

— Aesop

247. “He who shares the danger ought to share the prize.”

— Aesop

248. “The Oxen and the Axle-Trees A HEAVY WAGON was being dragged along a country lane by a team of Oxen. The Axle-trees groaned and creaked terribly; whereupon the Oxen, turning round, thus addressed the wheels: “Hullo there! why do you make so much noise? We bear all the labor, and we, not you, ought to cry out.” Those who suffer most cry out the least.”

— Aesop

249. “All of us, the great and the little have need of each other.”

— Aesop

250. “Don’t take it so much to heart, my friend; put a brick into the hole, and take a look at it every day: you won’t be any worse off than before, for even when you had your gold it was of no earthly use to you.”

— Aesop