The mountains too, at a distance, appear airy masses and smooth, but seen near at hand they are rough.

Bion used to say that the way to the shades below was easy; he could go there with his eyes shut.

As some say, Solon was the author of the apophthegm, "Nothing in excess.

If appearances are deceitful, then they do not deserve any confidence when they assert what appears to them to be true.

Heraclitus says that Pittacus, when he had got Alcæus into his power, released him, saying, "Forgiveness is better than revenge.

Pythagoras used to say that he had received as a gift from Mercury the perpetual transmigration of his soul, so that it was constantly transmigrating and passing into all sorts of plants or animals.

Antisthenes used to say that envious people were devoured by their own disposition, just as iron is by rust.