Use this list of one hundred wise sayings your NPCs can quote to inspire, give hope and make for some awesome roleplay moments.
| d100 | Entry |
|---|---|
| 1 | Now gaining is timely, but losing is what follows. Take comfort in timeliness, and settle into what follows, then grief will not be able to disturb you. |
| 2 | A little hope, however desperate, is never without worth. |
| 3 | Often it is the journey that is important, not the destination. |
| 4 | Ignorance of your enemy and of yourself will invariably lead to defeat. |
| 5 | Four strands of rope, kept separately, can be snapped with ease. Four strands of rope, twined together, are stronger than the sum of their parts. Strength lies not in numbers, but in unity, in cooperation. |
| 6 | Death is inevitable, but life is a journey to death, so make it count. |
| 7 | Every creature has a weakness. The wise hero trains for what they will face. |
| 8 | To do for someone, something that they can do for themselves, is a form of theft. |
| 9 | We don't get to decide what weighs on our souls, but it is our responsibility nonetheless. |
| 10 | We first make our habits, and then our habits make us. |
| 11 | You will endure loss, and learn from it. |
| 12 | Mastery of the self is the only mastery that matters. |
| 13 | Rather than to aim to be something, just be. |
| 14 | Is there really honor and glory in war? Look in the eyes of the widows and orphans, listen to cries of the wounded and the silence of the fallen, and stand within the worn-torn battlefields. You'll find your answer. |
| 15 | Sometimes the simple solution IS the solution. |
| 16 | It is important to draw wisdom from many different places, or else it becomes rigid and stale. |
| 17 | The world is cruel, unkind, and deceitful. A wise man will use that against his enemy. |
| 18 | Destiny is a funny thing. You never know how things are going to work out. |
| 19 | Heroes are no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer. |
| 20 | Every person is a thread in the tapestry of mortal history. |
| 21 | In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. |
| 22 | Better a swift death at the blades of tyrants, than a slow one under their heel. |
| 23 | You must wait for the silt to settle, before the water can be clear. |
| 24 | There is nothing to be gained from following the well-worn path. Though blazing your own trail comes with risks, it also comes with rewards. |
| 25 | You will be forgotten in the shade of your achievements. |
| 26 | A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it. |
| 27 | Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer. |
| 28 | Do not disturb your foe while he is making a mistake. |
| 29 | You are what you are. Once you know what you are, what others are doesn’t matter. |
| 30 | Stop dreading failure. Learn from it. |
| 31 | Life isn’t set in stone, but it is set in a muddy road. The more you drag your cart through the same rut, the harder it’s gonna be to get it out. |
| 32 | Before binding yourself to someone through oaths of honor and loyalty, be sure to ask yourself if they even deserve such honor or loyalty. |
| 33 | We don't get to decide what weighs on our souls, but it is our responsibility nonetheless. |
| 34 | What is the path to true enlightenment? I'm afraid I cannot tell you. Everyone must forge their own path. |
| 35 | What is the most important step a man can take? Always the next one. |
| 36 | When one categorizes people according to their great love before all else, all other categories quickly dissolve. |
| 37 | Being able to do the right thing doesn't matter so much as knowing to not do the wrong thing. |
| 38 | Add life to your days, not days to your life. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. It is not death most people are afraid of. It is getting to the end of life, only to realize that you never truly lived. Some beautiful paths cannot be discovered without getting lost. |
| 39 | Funny thing about strength, the stronger you are the less you have to fight. |
| 40 | Kindness rewards kindness just as anger punishes anger. |
| 41 | When there are no foes to slay, there might be a cake to cut. |
| 42 | Prodigious size alone does not dissuade the sharpened blade. |
| 43 | Until beasts have scribes of their own, tales of the hunt shall always venerate the hunter. |
| 44 | The truth doesn't care what anyone believes. |
| 45 | Titles and praise do not make one great. The path to greatness lies in what you do. |
| 46 | If you believe you know everything, then you truly know nothing at all. |
| 47 | Failure tests the mettle of the heart, brain, and body. |
| 48 | In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. It is the meaning of inner strength. |
| 49 | Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Those whom the gods would destroy first they make proud! |
| 50 | When the storm winds blow fiercely, the tree that doesn’t bend breaks. |
| 51 | I may die but my requiem plays on, the consequences of my life echoing into the void of history. |
| 52 | I'm not a wise man. I'm not even a wise guy. But I am wise enough to know I can be wiser still. |
| 53 | What a person intends means all to them, and little to others. What a person says means little to them, and all to others. |
| 54 | The truth remains the truth, an untruth remains an untruth, no matter how many people believe otherwise. |
| 55 | Happiness is the perpetual possession of the well deceived. |
| 56 | Truth is truth. How you deal with it is up to you. |
| 57 | Leave tomorrow's problems to tomorrow's you. |
| 58 | Even a mouse can be ferocious when cornered. |
| 59 | When deciding between the devil you know and the devil you do not know, remember that, in the end, they are both still devils. |
| 60 | There is no shame in accepting charity when it is offered, or in asking for help when it is needed. |
| 61 | There is no honor or glory in war, just victory or defeat. |
| 62 | In your profession, you must not fear death. Fear leads to inhibitions, lack of action, and hesitation - all fully capable of causing your death, and others alongside it, when action is needed. You will fear it, it is natural to do so. Yet, you must ignore that instinct, and act without hesitation. |
| 63 | Are you so busy fighting that you do not realize your own ship has set sail? |
| 64 | Oh, you don't have to be wise to play a wise old mountain man. You only have to be cryptic. |
| 65 | Always keep an eye on your pawns, even the ones you've already sacrificed. Off the board doesn't necessarily mean out of the game. |
| 66 | If you think you're prepared for any eventuality, I can promise you'll be caught by surprise quite frequently. |
| 67 | Life very rarely molds itself well to universal wisdom. Take all advice with this in mind. Including this advice, of course. |
| 68 | The same hammer that breaks glass forges steel. |
| 69 | The early bird may get the worm, but it is the second mouse that gets the cheese. |
| 70 | Even if you're in the right tunnel, the ooze will still eat you if you just sit there. |
| 71 | All things in moderation. Including, of course, moderation. |
| 72 | Holding a grudge is drinking poison and praying for your enemy to die. Of course, I knew a paladin whose prayers set their sword afire and raised the dead... |
| 73 | You are only bound to your destiny if you believe yourself bound to it. Only when you realize that it is you who controls your destiny can you well and truly be free. |
| 74 | Inaction in the face of evil can be as damning as the act of evil itself. |
| 75 | The cosmos burdens me with physical form, toils me through life, eases me through old age, and rests me in death. What makes my life good is what makes my dying good, also. |
| 76 | Only a fool leaves this world with a bag full of healing potions. |
| 77 | There is a fine line between being brave and being stupid. Make sure you are on the correct side of this line. |
| 78 | Sometimes you have to walk in the dark to appreciate the light. |
| 79 | One who does not question is easily led astray. |
| 80 | Only two kinds of people claim to feel no fear: liars and madmen. |
| 81 | Use soap every now and then. |
| 82 | If you try, you might fail. If you do not try, you have already failed. |
| 83 | The more you run from the past, the quicker you’ll be burning through your future. |
| 84 | The past is written in stone, the present in clay, and the future in sand. |
| 85 | There is nothing wrong with being proud of yourself, but always remember that too much pride can be blinding. |
| 86 | Beware the fury of the patient man. |
| 87 | Regularly wash behind your ears. It will help you to hear the world a little differently. |
| 88 | It is not through violence but compassion that the virtue of a civilization is proved. |
| 89 | If the world ended tomorrow, would you rest in peace knowing your actions today? |
| 90 | Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of the Gods, which is why we call it the present. |
| 91 | Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble. |
| 92 | Live for the little things. Die for the big things. |
| 93 | The first step towards true wisdom is acknowledging that everything you know pales in comparison to everything you do not. The second is accepting that, no matter how long you study, you can never know everything. The third step is to keep learning regardless. |
| 94 | Let me tell you what I wish I’d known when I was young and dreamed of glory: You have no control who lives, who dies, who tells your story. |
| 95 | Knowing your right from your left is irrelevant when the enemy stands straight in front of you. |
| 96 | Life is a journey and death is the destination. Where you go and what you do with your journey, how you enjoy it, is up to you. |
| 97 | You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger. |
| 98 | What is the meaning of life? The meaning of life is to live. |
| 99 | Steel rusts, flesh weakens, but will is unbreakable. |
| 100 | Remember that this moment will also pass. Good or bad, everything is temporary. |
