Scientia potentia est phrase ""sapientia est potentia"" is often translated as "wisdom is power". The earliest documented occurrence of the phrase "Knowledge is power" is from Imam Ali (599-661 CE), as recorded in the tenth-century book Nahj Al-Balagha (originally in Arabic). He said: Another account of this concept is found in the Shahnameh by the Persian poet Ferdowsi (940–1020 CE) who wrote: "Capable is he who is wise" (in Persian: توانا بود هر که دانا بود). This hemistich is translated to English as "knowledge is power" or "One who has wisdom is powerful". A proverb in practically the same wording is found in
Alea iacta est Alea iacta est Caesar was said to have borrowed the phrase from Menander, his favourite Greek writer of comedy; the phrase appears in "Ἀρρηφόρος" (transliterated as "Arrephoros") (or possibly "The Flute-Girl"), as quoted in "Deipnosophistae" , paragraph 8. Plutarch reports that these words were said in Greek: Suetonius, a contemporary of Plutarch writing in Latin, reports a similar phrase. Lewis and Short, citing Casaubon and Ruhnk, suggest that the text of Suetonius should read "iacta alea esto" (reading the imperative "esto" instead of "est"), which they translate as "Let the die be cast!", or "Let the game be ventured!". This