Pray do not grieve so; but go and take a stone, and place it in the hole, and fancy that the gold is still lying there. It will do you quite the same service; for when the gold was there, you had it not, as you did not make the slightest use of it.

It is foolish to try to imitate the skills of others.

Don't go looking for trouble.

If you allow men to use you for your own purposes, they will use you for theirs.

He that is hard to please, may get nothing in the end.

Any excuse will serve a tyrant.

An oak and a reed were arguing about their strength. When a strong wind came up, the reed avoided being uprooted by bending and leaning with the gusts of wind. But the oak stood firm and was torn up by the roots.