Ptah-Hotep > Quotes

“Be a craftsman in speech that thou mayest be strong, for the strength of one is the tongue, and speech is mightier than all fighting.”
― Ptahhotep

“Take advice from the ignorant as well as from the wise, since there is no single person who embodies perfection nor any craftsman who has reached the limits of excellence.”
― Ptahhotep, The maxims of Ptah-hotep: Humankind's earliest wisdom literature

“Silence is more profitable unto thee than abundance of speech.”
― Ptahhotep, The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep and the Instruction of Ke'Gemni The Oldest Books in the World

“There is no craftsman who has acquired full mastery”
― Ptahhotep, The maxims of Ptah-hotep: Humankind's earliest wisdom literature

“For the greedy there will be no tomb”
― Ptahhotep, The maxims of Ptah-hotep: Humankind's earliest wisdom literature

“Good words are more difficult to find than emeralds.”
― Ptah Hotep

“18. If thou desire to continue friendship in any abode wherein thou enterest, be it as master, as brother, or as friend; wheresoever thou goest, beware of consorting with women. No place prospereth wherein that is done. Nor is it prudent to take part in it; a thousand men have been ruined for the pleasure of a little time short as a dream. Even death is reached thereby; it is a wretched thing. As for the evil liver, one leaveth him for what he doeth, he is avoided. If his desires be not gratified, he regardeth (?) no laws.”
― Ptahhotep, The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep and the Instruction of Ke'Gemni The Oldest Books in the World

“In these days, when all things and memories of the past are at length become not only subservient to, but submerged by, the matters and needs of the immediate present, those paths of knowledge that lead into regions seemingly remote from such needs are somewhat discredited; and the aims of those that follow them whither they lead are regarded as quite out of touch with the real interests of life.”
― Ptahhotep, The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep and the Instruction of Ke'Gemni The Oldest Books in the World

“Wohlgeachtet ist der Mann, dessen Maß Rechtschaffenheit ist, und dessen Wandel sich danach richtet.”
― Ptahhotep

“Be not proud because thou art learned; but discourse with the ignorant man, as with the sage. For no limit can be set to skill, neither is there any craftsman that possesseth full advantages. Fair speech is more rare than the emerald that is found by slave-maidens on the pebbles.”
― Ptahhotep, The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep and the Instruction of Ke'Gemni The Oldest Books in the World

“These 'Instructions' were held in high esteem as text-books and writing exercises in schools—a circumstance to which we owe the preservation of many of them.”
― Ptahhotep, The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep and the Instruction of Ke'Gemni The Oldest Books in the World

“And they that are guided go not astray, but they that lose their bearings cannot find a straight course.”
― Ptahhotep, The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep and the Instruction of Ke'Gemni The Oldest Books in the World

“If thou be powerful, make thyself to be honoured for knowledge and for gentleness. Speak with authority, that is, not as if following injunctions, for he that is humble (when highly placed) falleth into errors. Exalt not thine heart, that it be not brought low.[”
― Ptahhotep, The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep and the Instruction of Ke'Gemni The Oldest Books in the World

“If he hesitate to open his heart, it is said, 'Is it because he (the judge) doeth the wrong that no entreaties are made to him concerning it by those to whom it happeneth?”
― Ptahhotep, The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep and the Instruction of Ke'Gemni The Oldest Books in the World