Temperance tips from the king Lear’s fool

FOOL:

Have more than thou showest,
Speak less than thou knowest,
Lend less than thou owest,
Ride more than thou goest,
Learn more than thou trowest,
Set less than thou throwest;
Leave thy drink and thy whore,
And keep in-a-door,
And thou shalt have more
Than two tens to a score.

King Lear

The wisdom of Bias

Be slow to undertake any enterprise; but persevere steadfastly in whatever you undertake.
Do not rush to speak, for this is a sign of madness.
Love wisdom.
As concerns the gods, say that they exist.
If a man is unworthy, do not praise him because of his wealth.
Prevail by persuation, not by force.
Attribute to the gods whatever good you do.
Take wisdom as your provision from youth to old age, for it is more dependable than all other provisions.

His maxim is: Most men are bad.

Diogenes Laertius - Lives of the eminent philosophers

Chilon’s advices

Watch your tongue, especially at a drinking party.
Do not speak ill of your neighbors; for if you do you will be spoken of in ways that give you pain.
Make no threats, for that is womanish.
Be quicker to visit friends in adversity than in prosperity.
Make a thrifty marriage.
Do not speak ill of the dead.
Honor old age.
Take thought for your safety.
Prefer a loss to an ill-gotten gain; the one will only grieve you once, the other forever.
Do not laugh at another’s misfortune.
When strong be gentle, that you may be respected, rather than feared, by your neighbors.
Learn how to manage your own house well.
Do not let your tongue outrun your thought.
Control your temper.
Do not despise divination.
Do not desire impossibilities.
Do not hurry on the road.
When speaking, do not gesticulate; for that is a sign of madness.
Obey the laws.
Remain calm.

Diogenes Laertius - Lives of the eminent philosophers

Solon’s advices

Trust good character more than an oath.
Do not lie.
Pursue worthy goals.
Be in no hurry to make friends; but once they are made, do not discard them.
Command only when you have learned to be ruled.
Give the best advice, not the most pleasant.
Make reason your guide.
Have no dealings with base men.
Honor the gods.
Respect your parents.

Diogenes Laertius - Lives of the eminent philosophers

La Rochefoucauld tells the Truth

V:132
It is easier to be wise for other people than for yourself.

La Rochefoucauld - Maxims

Polonius' fatherly advices to Laertes

And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
Be thou familiar but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatched, unfledged courage. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but being in,
Bear ’t that th' opposèd may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear but few thy voice.
Take each man’s censure but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not expressed in fancy - rich, not gaudy,
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be,
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell. My blessing season this in thee.

William Shakespeare - Hamlet
(The New Oxford Shakespeare - The Complete Works, Modern Critical Edition)