One who steals has no right to complain if he is robbed.

It is easy to despise what you cannot get

If these town gods can't detect the thieves who steal from their own temples, it's hardly likely they'll tell me who stole my spade.

A wild boar was sharpening his tusks upon the trunk of a tree in the forest when a fox came by and asked, Why are you doing that, pray? The huntsmen are not out today and there are no other dangers at hand that I can see. True, my friend, replied the Boar, but the instant my life is in danger, I shall need to use my tusks. There will be no time to sharpen them then.

You may share the labors of the great, but you will not share the spoil.

It is useless attacking the insensible.

The more you want, the more you stand to lose