Apophthegmata Laconica

Anaxandridas, the son of Leo. in answer to a man who took much to heart the sentence imposed upon him of exile from the country, said, My good sir, be not downcast at being an exile from your country but at being an exile from justice.

To a man who told the Ephors of things that were needful, but spoke at greater length than would have sufficed, he said, My friend, in needless time you dwell upon the need! [*](Attributed to Leo, the father of Anaxandridas, in Moralia, 224 F (3), and to Leonidas, the son of Anaxandridas, in Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xx. (52 B).)

When someone inquired why they put their fields in the hands of the Helots, and did not take care of them themselves, he said, It was by not taking care of the fields, but of ourselves, that we acquired those fields.