Sayings of Chilon

As a Spartan, it is perhaps fitting that Chilon's biography is sparse and his sayings terse. We do know that he lived in the 6th century BC, served as an ephor for the city, and wrote elegiac poetry. 

His brother complained that he had not also been elected an ephor, to which Chilon replied, "I know how to admit to injustice and you do not." 

When asked to define what was hard in life, Chilon answered, "To keep a secret. To employ leisure well. To be able to bear an injury." 

When asked the difference between a learned and an unleaded man, he said, "In good hope."

He is reported to have died from a combination of intense joy and the weakness of old age after congratulating his son on an Olympic victory in boxing. 

Give a pledge, and suffer for it. 

Seek no excess—all timely things are good. 

Control your tongue, especially at a banquet. 

Do not abuse your neighbors, for if you do, things will be said about you which you will regret. 

Threaten no one; for that is a womanly trick. 

Be more ready to visit friends in adversity than in prosperity. 

Do not make an extravagant marriage. 

Of the dead say nothing but good. 

Honor old age. 

Consult your own safety. 

Prefer a loss to a dishonest gain: the one brings pain at the moment, the other for all time. 

Do not laugh at another's misfortune. 

When strong, be merciful, if you would have the respect, not the fear, of your neighbors. 

Learn to be a wise master in your own house. 

Let not your tongue outrun your thought. 

Control anger. 

Do not hate divination. 

Do not aim at impossibilities. 

Let no one see you in a hurry. 

Gesticulation in speaking should be avoided as the mark of a madman. 

Obey the laws. 

Be restful. 

From one of his poems: 

Gold is best tested by a whetstone hard,
Which gives a certain proof of purity;
And gold itself acts as the test of men,
By which we know the temper of their minds.

IMAGE: Luca Giordano, The Philosopher Chilon (c. 1660)