Democritus Quotes

'Know,' says a wise writer, the historian of kings, 'Know the men that are to be trusted'; but how is this to be? The possession of knowledge involves both time and opportunities. Neither of these are 'handservants at command.'

When you encounter seemingly good advice that contradicts other seemingly good advice, ignore them both.

Fools admire, but men of sense approve.

All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse.

I've always had a tendency to be much more optimistic about people than I should be. I'd like to be a little shrewder.

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.

One of the functions of intelligence is to take account of the dangers that come from trusting solely to the intelligence.

My mom knows when something is real and something is not.

It's good to trust others but, not to do so is much better.

The man who trusts men will make fewer mistakes than he who distrusts them.

One of the common failings among honorable people is a failure to appreciate how thoroughly dishonorable some other people can be, and how dangerous it is to trust them.

It can be hard in this business, especially when you're very young, to figure out who you can and can't trust.

I fear we might be losing the basic human facility to be alone - and with that you throw out independent decision-making, what to trust, what not to trust; key stuff - a perilous loss.

Deciding whether to trust or credit a person is always an uncertain task.

I have in the past overly trusted people and was, in turn, let down by some. Since then, I have learned the difference between putting faith into people and blindly trusting them.

I over-scrutinize anyone new entering my life.

In the last analysis sound judgment will prevail.

The rest is a mere matter of detail, to be settled with judgment, discretion, and caution.

Wise men don't need advice. Fools won't take it.

Emotion is always the enemy of wise statesmanship.

Don't trust everyone, especially if they say, 'Trust me.'

Never trust the advice of a man in difficulty.

Send a wise man and don't advise him. He should know what to do.

The greatest virtue in a prince is to know his friends.

Believe no evil till the evil's done