|
Lucius Accius
Let them hate, as long as they fear.
Agesilaus
One time Agesilaus watched as a mouse was being pulled from
its hole by a small boy. When the mouse turned around, bit
the hand of its captor and escaped, he pointed this out to
those present and said: "When the tiniest creature defends
itself like this against agressors, what ought men to do,
you reckon?"
A commander should outclass his troops not in
fastidiousness and high living, but in stamina and
courage.
When asked what gain the laws of Lycurgus had brought
Sparta, he said, "Contempt for pleasures."
Asked once how far Sparta's borders stretched, Agesilaus
brandished his spear, and said, "As far as this can
reach."
Be rich not in possessions, but in courage and merit.
One may most surely earn the esteem of the people by the
best words and the finest actions.
A general needs to show daring towards his opponents,
goodwill towards his subordinates and a cool head in
crises.
Only the inteligent are brave.
Aeschylus
There's nothing certain in man's life except this: That
he must lose it.
Of all the Gods, Death only craves not gifts: Nor sacrifice,
nor yet drink-offering poured Avails; no altars hath he, nor
is soothed By hymns of praise. From him alone of all The
powers of heaven Persuasion holds aloof.
It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the
man the oath.
God's mouth knows not to utter falsehood, but he will
perform each word.
Honour thy father and thy mother stands written among the
three laws of most revered righteousness.
But Justice turns the balance scales, sees that we suffer
and we suffer and we learn. And we will know the future when
it comes.
For somehow this is tyranny's disease - to trust no
friends.
Words are the physicians of a mind diseased.
Time, as he grows old, teaches all.
Wisdom comes through suffering.
It is in the charactter of very few men to honor without
envy a friend who has prospered.
Only when a man is dead should you call him happy.
Death is better, a milder fate than tyranny.
What is pleasanter than the bond of host and guest?
His resolve is not to seem, but to be, the best.
Aesop
The lamb began to follow the wolf in sheep's
clothing.
Appearances can be deceiving.
Do not count your chickens before they're hatched.
I am sure the grapes are sour.
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
Slow and steady wins the race.
How might one escape thee, O life, without dying? for thy
sorrows are numberless, and neither escape nor endurance is
easy. For sweet indeed are thy beautiful things of nature,
earth, sea, stars, the orbs of moon and sun; but all else is
fears and pains, and though one have a good thing befal him,
there succeeds it an answering Nemesis.
Alexander the Great
When asked, How did you acquire such a mighty kingdom in
spite of your youth?" He replied, "By winning over enemies
and making them friends, and by obliging friends through
beneficience towards them."
Alkman
No mortal can possibly escape his destined death, even
if he comes from immortal stock.
There is vengeance of the Gods.
The path is narrow, and necessity pitiless.
Who with ease could read the mind of another man?
Trial, you know, is the start of wisdom.
Anaxandridas
When someone asked why Spartiates confidently faced danger,
Anaxandridas replied: "Because we practice proper respect
for life, not fear of it like the rest of mankind."
Anaxis
The grapevine bears three bunches of grapes: first, a bunch
of enjoyment; second, a bunch of intoxication; and third, a
bunch of folly.
Antiphanes
We must have richness of soul.
Apollonius of Tyana
The best prayer that a man can utter is: O ye Gods, give
me whatever is fitting for me.
Why should any honest man have need of a Priest? The Gods
need no mediator to make them kind to him.
Apuleius
I approached the boundary of death, and treading upon
Proserpine's threshold, I was carried through all the
elements; after which I returned. At dead of night I saw the
sun flashing with bright effulgence; I approached close to
the Gods Above and the Gods Below and I worshipped them face
to face.
Archilochus
I will make nothing better by crying, I will make
nothing worse by giving myself what entertainment I can.
The fox knows many tricks, the hedgehog only one. But one
good one.
O Zeus, our father Zeus, for you control the sky, you
oversee the works of men, the right acts and the wrong they
do; so yours to judge the crimes and punishments of all
creatures.
One main thing I understand, to come back with deadly evil
at the man who does me wrong.
Different things warm different hearts.
For honor and glory bedeck the man who fights for his land,
his children, his wedded wife.
Aristippus
Not he who abstains, but he who enjoys without being
carried away, is master of his pleasures.
Aristotle
No one ever creates anything great without a dash of
madness.
Every art and investigation, and likewise every practical
pursuit or undertaking, seems to aim at some good: hence it
has been well said that the Good is That at which all things
aim.
Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in
deserving them.
Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth.
The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and
grace, making the best of circumstances.
I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who
conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over
self.
For the steading takes precedence among our physical
necessities, and the woman among our free associates. It is,
therefore, one of the tasks of Homecraft to set in order the
relation between man and woman; in other words, to see that
it is what it ought to be.
Wicked men obey from fear; good men, from love.
The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied
later a thousand-fold.
Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become
just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts,
brave by doing brave acts.
The true nature of anything is what it becomes at its
height.
Education graces the wealth of the rich, and veils the
poverty of the poor.
There are four excellences of the soul, with four equivalent
excellences of the body. Wisdom in the soul has its physical
equivalent in perfection. Justice in the soul has its
physical equivalent in beauty. Courage in the soul has its
physical equivalent in strength. Modesty in the soul has its
physical equivalent in health.
The soul is not within the body; rather, the body is within
the soul, because soul is more extensive than the body and
greater in magnitude.
Do not crave the world, for you only stay in it a short
while; how long can you possibly live?
We must not recoil with childish aversion from the
examination of the humbler animals. Every realm of nature is
marvelous and all will reveal to us something beautiful.
A malicious person is an enemy to himself, so how can he be
a friend to another?
When you want to know if a man is master of his desores,
then observe how much control he has over what he says.
Habituate the self to the humanities, for from them and in
them are seen the wonders of thought and the subtleties of
reflection.
Rhetoric is putting much meaning in a few words, as opposed
to putting little meaning in many words.
Asked what is most difficult, Aristotle said -
"Silence."
All human actions have one or more of these seven causes:
chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion,
desire.
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a
thought without accepting it.
We make war that we may live in peace.
So poetry is something more philosophical and more worthy of
serious attention than history, for while poetry is
concerned with universal truth, history treats of particular
facts.
God and nature do nothing in vain.
All men naturally desire to know.
There should be no enmity between seekers after truth.
Arrian
I hold that no mighty deeds, not even conquering the whole
world, is of any good unless the man has learned mastery of
himself.
Athenian oath, before Plataea
I shall fight as long as I live, and shall not consider
being alive more important than being free.
Marcus Aurelius
Who lives with the Gods? Those who are always satisfied
with what has been assigned for them and obey the promptings
of their spirit.
Nowhere can a man find a quieter or more untroubled retrest
than his own soul.
Either instruct them or endure them.
Nay, but there are Gods, and they do concern
themselves with out affairs.
Author Unknown
He who enters the incense-filled temple must be holy;
and holiness is to have a pure mind.
He who never betrays one he has made a friend shall be given
high exaltation among people and Gods. Such is my own
belief.
Underneath every stone there lies hidden a scorpion, dear
friend. Take care, or he will sting you. All concealment is
treachery.
I was not. I was. I am not. I do not care.
When one God presses hard, another brings relief.
A Greek never entered a wood without expecting to meet a God
in it.
Only a dog barks guests away from his own door.
Not everything which the law allows is honorable.
Not of good-will has Fortune advanced thee; but that she may
show her omnipotence, even down to thee.
Bakchylides
Nothing is past belief when fashioned by the Gods'
concern.
Bianor
This man, inconsiderable, mean, yes, a slave, this man
is loved, and is lord of another's soul.
Caecillius
How much more revrent and better it is to accept the
teaching of our elders as the priest of truth; to maintain
the religions handed down to us; to adore the Gods, whom
from the cradle you were taught to know, not to dogmatize
about the divinities, but accept the council of our wise
elders.
Hence it is that throughout wide empires, provinces, and
towns, we see each people having its own individual rites
and worshipping its local Gods, the Eleusinians Ceres, the
Phyrgians the Great Mother, the Epidaurians Aesculapius, the
Chaldaeans Bel, the Syrians Astarte, the Taurians Diana, the
Gauls Mercury, the Romans one and all. Thus it is that their
power and authority has embraced the circuit of the whole
world, and has advanced the bounds of empire beyond the
paths of the sun, and the confines of ocean; while they
practice in the field God-fearing valor, make strong their
city with awe and sacred rites, with chaste virgins, with
many a priestly dignity and title; beseiged and imprisoned
within the Capitol, they still revrenced the Gods, whom
others might have spurned with wrath, and their piety was
such that the Gauls passed on, and let them be.
Turn your gaze on the temples and shrines of Gods by which
the commonwealth of Rome is protected and adorned: we owe a
great debt to the Gods who dwell there.
Therefore, since all nations unhesitantly agree as to the
existence of the Immortal Gods, however uncertain may be our
account of them or their origin, it is intolerable that any
man should be so puffed up with pride and impious coceit of
wisdom, as to strive to abolish or undermine religion, so
ancient, so useful, and so salutary.
Caesar Augustus
Tell me, have I played my part in the comedy of life
well?
Cato
I would much rather have men ask why I have no statue, than
why I have one.
It is a hard matter, my fellow citizens, to argue with the
belly, since it has no ears.
Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men,
for the wise man shuns the mistakes of fools, but fools do
not imitate the success of the wise.
Celsus
The world is governed by various Gods, and divided into
provinces. Each nation is run as it ought to be.
The man who worships several Gods, because he worships that
which in truth belongs to the Great God, even by this very
action does that which is loved by him.
It was because men of ancient times were touched by the
spirit that they proclaimed many excellent doctrines.
It is impious to abandon the customs which have existed in
each locality from the beginning.
Charillus
When asked why Lycurgus made so few laws, Charillus said,
"Because men of few words need only a few laws too."
When someone was asking why they let unmarried girls appear
in public unveiled, but their wives veiled, he said,
"Because the girls need to find husbands, whereas the wives
must stick to their own husbands."
When one of the helots behaved rather insolently towards
him, he said, "Were I not angry, I would have killed
you."
When asked why Spartans wore their hair long, he replied,
"This is the natural means of personal adornment, and it
costs nothing."
Cicero
The Gods have always been, and never were born.
For by means of the Mysteries we have been transformed from
a rough and savage way of life to the state of humanity, and
have been civilized. Just as they are called Initiations, so
in actual fact we have learned from them the fundamentals of
life, and have grasped the basis not only for living with
joy but also dying with a better hope.
Human beings were created to contemplate and reflect the
universe. They are not themselves this great perfection, but
are particles of perfection.
Religion is not ruined by removing superstion.
Sacred things should not only not be touched with the hands,
but may not be violated even in thought.
The first bond of society is marriage; the next is children;
the third family.
Cleanthes
Lead me, Zeus, and you, Fate. Wherever you have assigned me,
I shall follow without hesitation; but even if I am
disobediant and do not wish to, I shall follow no less
surely.
Cleomenes
When someone said, "After your frequent victories over the
Argives in their wars against you, why haven't you wiped
them out?", Cleomenes replied: "We would not wish to wipe
them out because we want sparring-partners for our young
men."
When somone was asking him why Spariates do not dedicate the
spoils from their enemies to the Gods, he said: "Because
they came from cowards."
Crassus
Those who aim at great deeds must also suffer greatly.
Cyprian
What is a stage show without a God, a game without a
sacrifice?
Delphic Maxims
Know yourself.
Nothing in excess.
Aid friends.
Control anger.
Shun unjust acts.
Ackowledge sacred things.
Hold on to learning.
Praise virtue.
Avoid enemies.
Cultivate kinsmen.
Pity supplicants.
Accomplish your limit.
When you err, repent.
Consider the time.
Worship the divine.
Accept old age.
Democritus
Do not be eager to know everything lest you become
ignorant of everything.
A man of intelligence will, by foresight, set straight most
everything in his life.
One must emulate the deeds and actions of virtue, not just
the words.
One should refrain from wrong-doing not because of fear but
because of duty.
One should choose not every pleasure but that concerned with
the noble.
A father's temperateness is the greatest precept for his
children.
For those brought up in self-sufficiency there are never any
short nights.
The courageous are not only those who conquer their enemies
but also those who are superior to pleasures: some men rule
cities and are slaves to women.
Those who hate injustice are loved by the Gods.
It is better to examine your own mistakes than those of
others.
A life without feasts is a long road without inns.
More men are good by practice than by nature.
Whatever a poet writes with enthusiasm and a divine
inspiration is very fine.
In truth, we know nothing, for truth lies in the depths.
Diogenes
I am looking for an honest man.
Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad.
One day, observing a child drinking out of his hounds, he
cast away the cup from his pack with the words, "A child has
beaten me in plainness of living."
When asked why he was called a Cynic [dog-like], he
replied, "Because I confront people of evil and falsehood
with truth, and tell them the truth about themselves. And I
fawn on the good and growl in the faces of the bad."
Empedocles
At one time through Love all things came together into
one, at another time through Strife's hatred they are borne
each of them apart.
Happy is the person who has gained the riches of divine
wisdom; wretched he who has a dim opinion of the Gods in his
heart.
The nature of God is a circle of which the center is
everywhere and the circumfrence is nowhere.
For already I have been born as a boy and a girl and a bush
and a bird and a dumb fish leaping out of the sea.
Ennius
The Roman state survives by its ancient customs and its
manhood.
Epictetus
Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which
they take of things.
Happiness comes from understanding one basic principle. Some
things are within our control and some things are not. Our
opinions, ambitions, desires and aversions are in our
control. We can change the contents of our inner character.
Our body, wealth, fame, and social status are not in our
control. They are external to us and not our concern.
Although we cannot choose what happens to us, we can choose
how we respond.
You are a fragment torn from God. You have a portion of him
within you.
Small-minded people blame others. Average people blame
themselves. The wise see blame as foolishness.
Epicurus
Through love of true philosophy every desturbing and
troublesome desire is ended.
What is food to one creature, is poison to another.
The wise seek neither to escape from life nor death, for
life does not trouble them and death does not seem an evil.
Just as with food, they don't choose the largest portion,
but the most delicious. They do not desire the longest
period of time, but pluck the most pleasant fruit.
No one when he sees evil deliberately chooses it, but is
enticed by it as being good in comparison with a greater
evil.
Frugality too has a limit, and the man who disregards it is
in like case with him who errs through excess.
It is vain to ask of the Gods what a man is capable of
supplying for himself.
That which is finite has an end. That which has an end can
be perceived from a point external to itself. But the
universe cannot be perceived from a point external to
itself. Therefore, the universe has no end, it must be
infinite.
You must be the slave of philosophy if you would enjoy true
freedom.
Meditate upon death. It is a splendid thing to know well how
to die.
The Fourfold remedy: Nothing to fear in God. Death is not
worth a worry. Good can be attain, and evil can be
endured.
Epaminondus
You Thebans will never be equal in war to the Athenians
unless you bring the Parthenon and the Popylaea to Thebes.
Beautiful art produces beautiful character.
Eudamidas
When asked what purpose they had in sacrificing to the Muses
before their ventures, Eudamidas said, "So that our actions
may attract good reports."
Euripides
Judge a tree by it's fruit, not it's leaves.
In this world, it seems, second thoughts are best.
A coward turns away, but a brave man's choice is danger.
Talk sense to a fool, and he calls you foolish.
Humility, a sense of revrence before the Sons of Heaven - of
all the prizes that a mortal man might win, these, I say,
are wisest. These are best.
A bad beginning makes a bad ending.
Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.
The nobly born must nobly meet his fate.
When good men die their goodness does not parish, but lives
though they are gone. As for the bad, all that was theirs
dies and is buried with them.
Those whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first make
mad.
The beliefs we have received from our ancestors - beliefs as
old as time - cannot be destroyed by any argument, nor by
any ingenuity the mind can invent.
Silver and gold are not the only coin; virtue too passes
current all over the world.
Nothing have I found stronger than Necessity.
Temperance is the greatest gift of the Gods.
The Gods visit the sins of the fathers upon the
children.
When good men die their goodness does not perish, But lives
though they are gone. As for the bad, All that was theirs
dies and is buried with them.
No man in the whole world is free. Not one. Slaves all to
what they own or want.
Blessed, blessed are those who know the Mysteries of
Dionysos. Blessed is he who hallows his life in the worship
of God, he whom the spirit of God possesseth, who is one
with those who belong to the holy body of God. Blessed are
the dancers and those who are purified, who dance on the
hill the holy dances of God. Blessed are they who keep the
rites of Kybele the Mother. Blessed are the thyrsos-bearers,
those who weild in their hands the holy wand of God. Blessed
are those who wear the crown of the ivy of God. Blessed,
blessed are they: Dionysos is their God!
Gorgo
When some woman accosted Leonidas' wife Gorgo and said,
"You Lakonian women are the only ones who can rule mem," she
replied, "That is because we are the only ones who give
birth to men."
Hecaton
I will reveal to you a love potion, without medicine,
without herbs, without any witch’s magic; if you want
to be loved, then love.
Cease to hope, and you will cease to fear.
Heraclitus
Everything flows and nothing stays.
Just as children seem foolish to adults, so humans seem
foolish to the Gods.
It is not good for all your wishes to be fulfilled: through
sickness you recognize the value of health , through evil
the value of good, through hunger satisfaction, through
exertion, the value of rest
Heraclitus was asked by the citizens of Ephesus to become a
law-maker. He refused, replying, "If I do so, who would play
with the children in the temple?"
Hermes Trismegestus
To simply love God in thought with singleness of heart,
and to follow the Goodness of his will - this is philosophy,
unsullied by intrusive cravings for pointless opinions.
There are many kinds of Gods; some of them are aprehensible
by thought alone, and others are perceptible by sense.
Without God nothing has been or is or will be; from God and
in God and through God are all things: all the various and
multiform qualities, the vast and measureless magnitudes,
and the forms of every aspect.
O Egypt, Egypt, of thy religion nothing will remain but an
empty tale, which thine own children will not believe;
nothing will be left but graven words, and only the stones
will tell of thy piety. And in that day men will be weary of
life, and they will cease to think the universe worthy of
revrant wonder and of worship. And so religion, the greatest
of all blessings - for there is nothing, nor has been, nor
ever shall be, that can be deemed a greater boon - will be
threatened with destruction. Do you weep at this, Asclepius?
There is worse to come.
The precepts:
1. What I say is not fictious but reliable and true. 2. What
is below is like that which is above, and what is above is
like that which is below. They work to accomplish the
wonders of the One Thing. 3. As all things were created by
the One Word of the One Being, so all things were created by
the One Thing by adaptation. 4. Its Father is the Sun and
its Mother the Moon. The Wind carries it in its belly. Its
Nurse is the Earth. 5. It is the Father of Perfection in the
whole world. 6. The power is strong if it is changed into
Earth. 7. Separate Earth from Fire, the subtle from the
coarse, but be prudent and circumspect as you do it. 8. Use
your mind to its full extent and rise from Earth to Heaven,
and then again descent to Earth and combine the powers of
what is above and what is below. Thus you will win glory in
the whole world, and obscurity will leave you at once. 9.
This has more virtue in it than Virtue itself, because it
controls every subtle thing and pentrates every solid thing.
10. This is the way the world was created. 11. This is the
origins of the wonders that are here established. 12. This
is why I am called "Thrice-Greatest Hermes", for I possess
the three parts of the cosmic philosophy. 13. What I had to
say about the Operation of the Sun is completed.
Herodotos
The Athenians' reply to the Spartans, about making a
truce with the Persians: There are many important reasons
which prevent us from doing this, even if we so wished, the
first and greatest being the burning and demolishing of the
statues and temples of the Gods, which we must avenge with
all our power rather than making terms with the agent of
their destruction. Furthermore there is the fact that we are
all Greeks, sharing both the same blood and the same
language, and we have the temples of our Gods in common and
our sacrifices and similar life-style, and it would not be
right for the Athenians to betray all these.
Men trust their ears less than their eyes.
You do not know what freedom is, for if you did you would
fight for it with bare hands if you had no weapons.
A woman takes off her claim to respect along with her
clothes.
The Persians are accustomed to deliberate about the most
important matters while drunk.
It is better to be envied than pitied.
Force has no place where there is need of skill.
It is the Gods' custom to bring low all things of surpassing
greatness.
Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances.
In soft regions are born soft men.
This is the bitterest pain among men - to have much
knowledge, but no power.
Hesiod
Work is no dishonor; idleness is.
Women are a bane to men who eat bread.
Trust and mistrust together have ruined men.
Do not let a woman who decorates her buttocks decieve you,
by wily coaxing, for she is after your granary.
Whoever trusts a woman, trusts thieves.
Often an entire city has suffered because of an evil
man.
He harms himself who does harm to another, and the evil plan
is most harmful to the planner.
A bad neighbor is a misfortune as much as a good one is a
blessing.
Do not seek evil gains: evil gains are the equivalent of a
disaster.
At the beginning of a cask, and at the end take your fill;
in the middle be sparing.
Observe due measure, for right timing is in all things the
most important factor.
Hippocrates
Life is short, the art long.
The Hitopadesa
Whether he who comes to thy house be of the highest or
the the lowest rank, he is to be treated with respect: for
of all men thy guest is the superior.
Homer
Men grow tired of sleep, love, singing and dancing
sooner than of war.
The son of Kronos spoke, and nodded with his darkish brows,
and immortal locks fell forward from the Lord's deathless
head, and he made great Olympos tremble.
The eternal Gods do not lightly change their minds.
Like that of leaves is a generation of men.
Whoever obeys the Gods, to him they particularly listen.
A multitude of rulers is not a good thing. Let there be one
ruler, one king.
The glorious gifts of the Gods are not to be cast aside.
Not at all similar are the race of the immortal Gods and the
race of men who walk upon the earth.
Attach a golden chain from heaven and all you take hold of
it, you Gods and Goddesses, yet would you not be able to
drag Zeus the Most High from heaven to earth.
To be both a speaker of words and a doer of deeds.
There is a strength in the union of even very sorry men.
You will certainly not be able to take the lead in all
things yourself, for to one man a God has given deeds of
war, and to another the dance, to another the lyre and song,
and in another loud-thundering Zeus puts a good mind.
It is not possible to fight beyond your strength, even if
you strive.
The Erinyes, who exact punishment of men underground, if one
swears a false oath.
There are no compacts between lions and men, and wolves and
lambs have no concord.
For two jars stand on the floor of Zeus of the gifts which
he gives, one of evils and the other of blessings.
For rarely are sons similar to their fathers: most are
worse, and a few are better than their fathers.
All strangers and beggars are from Zeus, and a gift, though
small, is precious.
Evil deeds do not prsoper; the slow man catches up with the
swift.
There is a time for many words, and a time for rest.
Bad herdsmen ruin their flocks.
Men flourish only for a moment.
Endure, my heart: you once endured something even more
dreadful.
Always to be best, and to be distinguished above the
rest.
Pray, for all men need the aid of the Gods.
Zeus gives no aid to liars.
Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides
one thing in his heart and speaks another.
It lies in the laps of the Gods.
And they die an equal death - the idler and the man of
mighty deeds.
Life and death are balanced on the edge of a razor.
I would rather be tied to the soil as another man's slave,
even a poor man's, who hadn't much to live on himself, than
be king of all the dead and destroyed.
Axylos, the son of Teutheronas, was a man of substance and
dear to his fellow men, for his house was by the side of the
road and he welcomed all who passed by.
Horace
Leave all else to the Gods.
Seize the day, put not trust in the morrow.
Grant me, sound of body and of mind, to pass old age lacking
neither honor nor lyre.
A grudging and infrequent worshipper of the Gods.
Now is the time for drinking, now the time to beat the earth
with unfettered feet.
In adversity remember to keep an even mind.
Whoever cultivates the Golden Mean avoids both the poverty
of a hovel and the envy of a palace.
It is sweet and honorable to die for one's country.
Force without wisdom falls of its own weight.
I shall not wholly die.
We are but dust and shadows.
It is sweet to let the mind unbind.
Isocrates
Piety consists not in expensive expenditures, but in
changing nothing of what our ancestors have handed down.
Greek is defined not by race but by education. All of us,
whatever our time and place, who have been shaped by Greek
books are in this sense Greek.
Do not do to others what would anger you if done to you by
others.
Never does that deserve the name of philosophy which is of
no immediate value.
I hold that man wise who can usually think out the best
cause to take, and that man a philosopher who seeks to gain
that insight.
A man who is educated would be first, capable of usually
hitting upon the right course. Secondly, he will meet any
company, however disagreeable, with easy good temper and
show to all men fairness and gentleness. Thirdly he will be
master of himself in misfortune and pain. Fourth and most
importantly, his head will not be turned by success.
Most people listen only to those who support their
desires.
If you truly wish to find out what is best, listen equally
to those who oppose you as to those who try to please
you.
The Constitution is the soul of the State.
It behooves a cultured person to take the best part of all
aspects of education, just as the bee takes the best part of
every flower.
To be a Greek is to be educated.
Silius Italicus
It is when we are in misery that we revere the Gods; the
prosperous seldom approach the altar.
Glory is a torch to kindle the noble mind.
The Emperor Julian
Things that are sacred to the Gods and holy ought to be
performed away from the beaten track in peace and quiet.
How can the man who, while worshipping Zeus the God of
Companions, sees his neighbors in need and does not give
them a dime - how can he think he is worshipping Zeus
properly?
I sacrificed in the evening and again at early dawn as I am
in the habit of doing.
That the human race possesses its knowkedge of God by nature
and not from teaching is proved to us first by all the
universal yearning for the divine that is in all men,
wherever they are from. For all of us, without being taught,
have attained to a belief in some sort of divinity, though
it is not easy for all men to know the precise truth about
it, nor is it possible for those who do know it to tell it
to all men.
Leonidas
When the ephors said, "Haven't you decided to do
anything other than block the passages against the
barbarians?" he said, "In theory, no, but in actual fact to
die for the Greeks." When someone said, "It isn't possible
even to see the sun because of the barbarians' arrows," he
said, "How nice, then, if we are to fight them in the
shade." When Xerxes wrote to him, "If you do not fight
against the Gods, but side with me, you can be monarch of
Greece," he wrote back, "If you knew what was good in life,
you would refrain from desiring what belongs to other
people; as for me it is better to die for Greece than be
monarch of the people of my race." When Xerxes wrote again,
"Hand over your weapons," he wrote back, "Come and take
them."
He passed the word to his soldiers to eat breakfast in the
expectation that they would be having dinner with Hades.
When asked why the best men prefer an honorable death to a
life without honor, he said, "Because they regard the latter
as the gift of Nature, and the former as being in their own
hands."
Leotychidas
When asked what children should learn in particular, he
said: "The things that should be advantageous to them when
they are adults."
Livy
Whatever is most honorable is also safest.
Longinus
Nature never intended man to be a low, groveling
creature. From the moment of his birth she imparts in him an
inextinguishable love for the noble and good.
Lucian
You are right, Momus, these things are unseemly. Yet
most of them are a matter of symbolism and someone who is
not an initiate into the Mysteries really should not laugh
at them.
Lucretius
All life is a struggle in the dark.
Nothing can be created out of nothing.
Martial
Neither fear your death's day, nor long for it.
Menander
The man who has never been flogged has never been
taught.
He only lives, who living enjoys life
Riches often cover a multitude of woes.
Whom the Gods love dies young.
We live, not as we wish to, but as we can.
At times discretion should be thrown aside and with the
foolish we should play the fool.
The truth sometimes not sought comes forth to the light.
I call a fig a fig, a spade a spade.
A fortunate man must nobly bear his blessings.
Who leads an austere life has a cold heart towards
others.
All that defiles a man comes from within
When you would say some evil of your neighbor, first think
of all the evil in you.
No man while sinning sees his sins for what it is. Later he
sees.
If a man can change a God to that which he desires, then he
himself is greater than the God.
Think like a free man and you will not be a slave.
It is not white hair that engenders wisdom.
Mimnermus
What, then, is life if love the golden is gone?
Orpheus
I am a child of Earth and starry Heaven, but my race is
of Heaven alone.
Ovid
If God be my friend I cannot be wretched.
It is expediant that Gods should exist: therefore let us
believe that the Gods exist.
The same God who is propitiated by the blood of a hundred
bulls is also propiated by the smallest offering of
incense.
The Gods have their own rules.
Note too that a faithful study of the liberal arts humanizes
character and permits it not to be cruel.
Palladas
All human must pay the debt of death, nor is there any
mortal who knows whether he shall be alive to-morrow;
learning this clearly, O man, make thee merry, keeping the
wine-god close by thee for oblivion of death, and take thy
pleasure with the Paphian while thou drawest thy ephemeral
life; but all else give to Fortune's control.
Day by day we are born as night retires, no more possessing
aught of our former life, estranged from our course of
yesterday, and beginning to-day the life that remains. Do
not then call thyself, old man, abundant in years; for
to-day thou hast no share in what is gone.
Why vainly, O man, dost thou labour and disturb everything
when thou art slave to the lot of thy birth? Yield thyself
to it, strive not with Heaven, and, accepting thy fortune,
be content with rest.
All life is a stage and a game: either learn to play it,
laying by seriousness, or bear its pains.
Thou talkest much, O man, and thou art laid in earth after a
little: keep silence, and while thou yet livest, meditate on
death.
Pedartius
When not selected to be one of the Three Hundred (which was
rated as the outstanding distinction in the state) he
withdrew with a bright smile. Yet when summoned back by the
ephors and asked what was making him cheerful, he said,
"Because I congratulate the state on having three hundred
citizens better than I."
Pericles
If then we prefer to meet danger with a light heart but
without laborious training, and with a courage which is
gained by habit and not enforced by law, are we not greatly
the better for it?
And they are surely to be esteemed the bravest spirits who,
having the clearest sense both of the pains and pleasures of
life, do not on that account shrink from danger.
For even those who come short in other ways may justly plead
the valor with which they have fought for their country;
they have blotted out the evil with the good, and have
benefited the state more by their public services than they
have injured her by their private actions.
Wait for the wisest of all councilors, time.
Perictyone
A woman should be a harmony of thoughtfulness and
temperance. Her sould should be zealous to acquire virtue so
that she may be just, brave, prudent, frugal, and hating
vainglory. Furnished with these virtues, when she becomes a
wife, act worthily towards herself, her husband, her
children and her family.
She should venerate the Gods, thereby hoping to achieve
felicity, also by obeying the laws and sacred institutions
of her country.
For no greater error or injustice can be committed by men
than to act impiously towards their parents.
Phaedrus
Submit to the present evil, lest a greater one befall
you.
Things are not always what they seem.
Come of it what may.
Pindar
War is sweet to those who have not tried it. The
experienced man is frightened at the heart to see it
advancing.
Blessed is he who has seen things and goes under the ground.
He knows life's end. He knows what God has decreed.
Mistress of high acievement, O Lady Truth, do not let my
understanding stumble across some jagged falsehood.
The days that are still to come are the wisest
witnesses.
If any man hopes to do a deed without the knowledge of Zeus,
he errs.
Do not peer too far.
The test of any man lies in action.
Seek not, my soul, the life of the immortals, but enjoy to
the full the resources that are within my reach.
Creatures of a day, what is man? What is he not? Mankind is
a dream of a shadow. But when God-given brightness comes, a
radiant light rests on men, and a gentle life.
Words have a longer life than deeds.
Not every truth is the better for showing its face
undisguised; and often silence is the wisest thing for a man
to heed.
One race there is of men, one of Gods, but from one mother
we both draw our breath.
It is not possible with mortal mind to search out the
purposes of the Gods.
O bright and violet-crowned city, famed in song, bulwark of
Greece, famous Athens the divine.
Unsung, the noblest deed will die.
What is God? Everything.
Custom is the ruler of all.
Plato
The kosmos is a single whole, comprised of many parts
that are also wholes.
The ancients are better than we for they dwelled nearer to
the Gods.
The soul of man is immortal and imperishable.
And that which you deem of no moment is the highest of all:
that is whether you have a right idea of the Gods, whereby
you may live your life well or ill.
We should think of the most authoritative part of the soul
as a guardian spirit given by God that lifts us to our
heavenly home.
Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body;
but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no
hold on the mind.
The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by
evil men.
Even the Gods love their jokes.
At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.
Man is a biped without feathers.
Is that which is holy loved by the Gods because it is holy,
or is it holy because it is loved by the Gods?
The particular learning which leads you throughout your life
to hate what should be hated and love what should be loved
will rightly be called education.
The only writing that really brings profit is engraving on
man's soul justice and goodness and nobility.
A slave is an embarrassing possession. Many a man has found
his slaves better in every way than his brothers or his
sons.
Lust is a powerful snare for falling into evil.
As long as you are able to add another's light to your own,
then do it.
Evil people look for people's faults, ignoring their good
qualities, just as flies look for rotten parts of a body,
ignoring the wholesome.
He is not a consummate sage who rejoices at the wealth of
the world, or sorrows at anything of its misfortunes.
The best way to get revenge on another is by becoming better
oneself.
An ignorant young man asled Plato, "How did you manage to
learn so much?" Plato replied, "By burning more oil than you
have drunk wine."
Place intelligence on your right and truth on your left, and
you will be safe all your life and remain free.
It behoves a ruler to start rectifying himself before he
starts rectifying his citizenry, lest he be in the situation
of one who wants to straighten a crooked shadow before
straightening the rod of which it is the shadow.
The time of a tyrannical ruler is shorter than the time of a
just one, because the tyrant is a spoiler and the just one a
restorer - spoiling something is always quicker than
restoring something.
When you admonish a wrongdoer, do so gently, that it may not
lead to open hostility.
Most virtues start out disagreeable, but end up sweet.
Plautus
He who dies for virtues' sake does not perish.
Pliny the Elder
The only certainty is that nothing is certain.
Plutarch
It was for the sake of others that I first began to write
biographies, but I find myself continuing to do it for my
own. The virtues of these great men serve me as a sort of
looking-glass in which I may see how to adorn and adjust my
own life. I can compare it to nothing but living daily with
them ... turning my thoughts happily and calmly to the
noble.
Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsover things are lovely, if there be any virtue and if
there be any praise, think on these things.
Moral good is a stimulus; it is no sooner seen than it
inspires an impulse to follow it.
The truly noble and reasoned spirit becomes more evident in
times of disaster.
Such an unsociable, solitary thing is power.
Those who are great produce nothing little.
Myths are to be tenderly treated and interpreted in a spirit
at once pious and philosophic.
Every man is able to turn his mind easily upon what he
thinks is good. It is a duty to contemplate the best.
God is not a ventriliquist.
Atheism denies God, but superstition wrongs him. I had
rather have it said that there not and never had been such a
fellow as Plutarch, than that he was fickle and vindictive
and would pay you out for not calling on him.
Life and death are only the prelude to the Great Initiation.
We are like those being initiated into Mysteries. At first
they wander along tortuous ways and through wearisome mazes,
which end in a shuddering passage through darkness full of
terror. But then a clear shining light comes to meet you;
pure meadows receive you; there is song and dance and holy
apparitions.
About that which you have heard, dear heart, that the soul
once departed from the body vanishes and feels nothing, I
know that you give no belief to such assertions because of
those sacred and faithful promises given in the Mysteries of
Dionysos which we who are of that brotherhood know. We hold
it firmly for an undoubted truth that our soul is
incorruptible and immortal. We are to think of the dead that
they pass to a better place and a happier condition. Let us
begave ourselves accordingly, outwardly by an ordered life,
while within all should be pure, wise, incorruptible.
If a man persists on the path of excellence, he will be able
to hear this spiritual speech which fills the air but can be
heard only by those whose souls are pure.
Let your life be centered in the sphere of the little
things.
By all means, enter public life. You may have no wars to
wage, no tyrants to put down, no alliances to consolidate.
The utmost you may be able to hope for is to abolish some
petty abuse, fight some bad custom, revive some charitable
foundation, repair an aqueduct, rebuild a temple, adjust a
tax. But they are all duties worth doing.
He who is faithful in that which is least may be fulfilling
life's highest demands.
If you will scrutinize and open yourself up you will find a
storehouse of evils and maladies, not entering from abroad,
but homegrown, springing from vice, plenteous in poisons.
Wickedness frames the engines of her own torment. She is a
wonderful artisan of the wicked life.
Boeotia, where great Thebes once flourished, is mute now,
altogether desolate and forlorn. My home town is a poor
little place, where I remain willingly so that it should not
become even less.
It is not the abundance of wine or the feasting of meat that
makes the joy of festivals, but the good hope and the belief
that the God is present in his kindness and graciously
accepts what is offered.
Pompey
More worship the rising than the setting sun.
A dead man cannot bite.
Porphyry
At the moment of death the soul must be as it is during
the Mysteries; free from any blemish, passion, envy, or
anger.
Praxilla
The most beautiful thing I leave behind is the light of
the sun, the next is the shining stars and the face of the
moon. And also ripe cucumbers and apples and pears.
Cultivate the brave.
Despise the company of cowards. There is little favor from
them.
Proclus
Wherever there is number, there is beauty.
Protragoras
Man is the measure of all things.
Claudius Ptolemy
Mortal though I be, yea ephemeral, if but a moment I
gaze up to the night's starry domain of heaven, then no
longer on earth I stand; I touch the Creator and my lively
spirit drinketh immortality.
Pythagoras
Abstain from eating animal flesh.
Abstain from beans.
Never sacrifice without barley.
When it thunders, touch the ground.
First honor the Immortal Gods, as the law demands; then
revrence thy oaths, and then the illustrious heroes; then
venerate the divinities under the earth, due rites
performing; then honor your parents, and all of your
kindred.
Never forget that death is appointed to all.
Do not neglect the health of the body.
What is most just? Sacrifice. What is most wise? Number.
What is most helpful? Medicine. What is most fine? Harmony.
What is most powerful? Wisdom. What is most good? Happiness.
What is most truly said? That men are wretched.
In a right-angled triangle, the square on the hypotenuse is
equal to the squares on the other two sides.
All things are comprised of number.
And one day when Pythagoras passed a puppy that was being
whipped they say he took pity on it and and made this
remark: "Stop, do not beat it; for it is the soul of a dear
friend - I recognized it when I heard the voice."
Lack of cultivation is the cause of every evil.
Prefer being defeated but just to being victorious but
unjust.
Fathers are the cause of life, but the wise are the cause of
wholesome life.
The world is a series of changes, somtimes in your favor and
sometimes against you: so when you are in change, do good;
and when you are overruled, bear it.
Pythagoras wanted to admonish the people and censure them
for their neglect of knowledge, so he climbed up onto a high
place and cried, "O community of people!" Then when they had
gathered, Pythagoras said, "I didn't call you - I called
only people.
It is impossible for anything of the noble, lofty divine
sciences to be firmly rooted in a soul while it is filled
with squaloe, since like appeals only to like.
Hold yourselves to these three things, as to the law:
abandon anger and importunity, avoid overconsumption, and do
not sleep excessively.
Don't brag about what you did today, for you don't know what
tomorrow will bring.
It is not enough for virtue to exist in the soul without
emerging into action by effort. And effort is in training,
by means of study, the irascible part of the self that is
not submissive to order, so that the self may acquire
education, skill, and aspiration for what is best.
Don't even entertain the notion of something that is not
right to do.
One whose face is comely but whose morals are bad is like a
vessel that is gold but contains vinegar.
If you will not take pains for knowledge, you will suffer
the distress of ignorance.
When there is no firewood, fire goes out; and when no one is
quarelsome, arguments end.
Just as faces are not alike, hearts are not alike.
Not everything that is pleasureable is beneficial, but
everything that is beneficial is pleasureable.
There is no taking back something you have already said or
done, so be wary before that.
Life is like a festival; just as some come to the festival
to compete, some to ply their trade, but the best people
come as spectators, so in life the slavish men go hunting
after for fame or gain, the philosophers for the truth.
Rufinus
Let us bathe, Prodice, and garland ourselves, and drain
unmixed wine, lifting larger cups; little is our life of
gladness, then old age will stop the rest, and death is the
end.
The Men at Salamis
Freedom - freedom for country, children, wives. Freedom for
worship, for our father's graves.
Sappho
Some say that the fairest thing upon the dark earth is a
host of calvary, others of infantry, and others again a
fleet of ships, but I say it is whatever one loves best. It
is easy to make anyone understand this.
May you sleep upon the breast of a tender friend.
Someone, I say, will remember us.
What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be
beautiful.
Semonides of Amorgos
No better thing befalls a man than a good wife, no worse
thing than a bad one.
Seneca
Philosophy's sole function is to discover the truth
about things divine and things human. From her side religion
never departs, nor piety, nor justice, nor any of the whole
company of virtues which cling together in close united
fellowship.
It is a great man who can treat his earthenware as if it was
silver, and a man who treats his silver as if it was
earthenware is no less great. Finding wealth an intolerable
burden is the mark of an unstable mind.
For man is a rational animal. Man's ideal state is realized
when he has fulfilled the purpose for which he was born. And
what is it that reason demands of him? Something very easy -
that he live in accordance with his own nature.
What fools these mortals be.
Live among men as if God beheld you: speak to God as if men
were listening.
The best ideas are common property.
You can tell the character of a man by how he receives
praise.
It is a rough road to greatness.
Fire is the test of gold: adversity of strong men.
The difference here between the Epicurean and our own school
is this: our wise man feels his troubles but overcomes them,
while their wise man does not even feel them.
If you have ever come on a dense wood of ancient trees that
have risen to an exceptional height, shutting out all sight
of the sky with one thick screen of branches upon another,
the loftiness of the forest, the seclusion of the spot, your
sense of wonderment at finding so deep and unbroken a gloom
out of doors, will persuade you of the presence of a deity.
Any cave in which the rocks have been eroded deep into the
mountain resting on it, its hollowing out into a cavern of
impressive extent not produced by the labours of men but the
result of the processes of nature, will strike into your
soul some kind of inkling of the divine. We venerate the
source of important streams; places where a mighty river
bursts suddenly from hiding are provided with altars; hot
springs are objects of worship; the darkness or unfathomable
depth of pools has made their waters sacred.
A man is as unhappy as he has convinced himself to be.
At our birth, nature made us teachable, and gave us reason,
not perfect, but capable of being perfected.
Sextus
Consider lost all the time in which you do not think of
divinity.
The soul is illuminated by the recollection of God.
The use of animal food is indifferent, but it is more
rational to abstain from it.
He best honors God who makes his intellect as like God as
possible.
Simonides
Here against three million once fought
Four thousand from the Peloponnese.
Stranger, tell the Spartans that here
We lie, obeying their orders.
These men gave their beloved country inextinguishable
fame
And encompassed themselves with the dark cloud of death.
They died but are not dead, since their valour glorifies
them from above
And brings them up from the house of Hades.
Being mortal, never say what tomorrow will bring, nor seing
a man blest how long he will be, for change is as swift as
the turn of a dragonfly's wing.
No one without the Gods acquires excellence, neither city or
a mortal man.
Among men, nothing without toil.
The story is that valor dwells upon inaccessible rocks ...
and haunts a holy place. Nor do mortal eyes behold her,
unless sweat that eats the soul comes from within and a man
reaches the very peak of bravery.
Painting is silent poetry, and poetry painting that
speaks.
Socrates
Let him that would move the world, first move
himself.
Having the fewest wants, I am nearest to the Gods.
An unjust act always dishonors the perpetrator. We must
cause no injury. Neither must we return injury for injury,
as many people believe is right. We must injure no one at
all. We must not retaliate or return evil for evil, whatever
evil we have suffered ourselves.
The unexamined life is not worth living
Human nature has no better helper than love.
There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil,
ignorance.
Wisdom begins in wonder.
I am a citizen, not of Athens or Greece, but of the
world.
I know I am intelligent, because I know that I know
nothing.
Don't be embarrassed to become better at the end of your
life than you were to begin with.
Just as it is by physicians that the sick are purged and
restored, so it is by laws that the unjust are reformed.
If he who knows not would simply remain silent, disputation
would stop.
Seeing a woman all dressed up for a trip to the city,
Socrates remarked, "I suspect that your trip is not to see
the city, but for the city to see you.
The greatest dominion is that man overcomes his
passions.
I never sorrow because I never acquire anything whose loss
would sadden me.
The most beneficial thing a person can acquire is a friend
who gives sincere advice.
The most contemptable person is he who trusts no one, and is
trusted by no one.
Once, Socrates was at a reception where the slave was slow
with the food. A man said to the host, "You should punish
him as severely as you can." But Socrates said, "No. Forgive
him his mistakes, for to improve yourself at the cost of
spoiling your slave is better than correcting your slave at
the cost of corrupting yourself."
It is desireable that thought should rule before an act,
during the act, and after the act: before the act, so that
it will not be mean and hurtful; during the act, so that it
does not cause a nuissance; and after the act, so that it
may be followed up and it may be known what it has led to,
and its beginning may be asserted by its end.
Don't be afraid of death, for the bitterness of it lies in
the fear of it.
The most gratifying things in the world are culture,
education, and seeing what one has not seen before.
Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius; will you remember to pay
the debt? (Socrates' last words)
Solon
I grow older ever learning many things.
Call no many happy before he dies, he is at best
fortunate.
Poets tell many lies.
Let us sacrifice to the Muses.
The precepts:
Trust good character more than promises.
Do not speak falsely.
Do good things.
Do not be hasty in making friends, but do not abandon them
once made.
Learn to obey before you command.
When giving advice, do not recommend what is most pleasing
but what is most useful.
Make reason your supreme commander.
Do not associate with people who do bad things.
Honor the Gods.
Have regard for your parents
Sophocles
There are many wonderful things in the world, and
nothing more wonderful than man.
In the Gods have I put my trust - I will not fear.
Think not that thy word and thine alone must be right.
Children are the anchors that hold a mother to life.
Silence gives the proper grace to women.
Nobly to live, or else nobly to die, befits proud birth.
Men of ill judgement often ignore the good that lies in
their hands till they have lost it.
How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there's no
help in truth.
The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves.
For God hates utterly the bray of bragging tongues.
Our ship of State, which recent storms have threatened to
destroy, has come safely into harbor.
I have nothing but contempt for the kind of governor who is
afraid, for whatever reason, to follow the course that he
knows is best for the State; and as for the man who sets
private friendships above public welfare - I have no use for
him either.
Nobody likes the man who brings bad news.
How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong.
All that is, and shall be, and the past - belongs to
Zeus.
Reason is God's crowning gift to man.
The ideal condition would be, I admit, that man should be
right by instinct; but since we all are likely to go astray,
the reasonable thing is to learn from those who can
teach.
Wisdom outweighs any wealth.
There is no happiness where there is no wisdom; no wisdom
but in submission to the Gods.
The immortal Gods alone have neither age nor death! All
other things almighty time disquiets.
The truth is always the strongest argument.
The good man is his own friend.
The pleasantest laughter is at the expense of enemies.
It is the brave man's part to live with glory, or with glory
die.
The Spartans
If Alexander likes to call himself a God, we have no
objection.
The Spartan Mothers
To their sons, going off to war: with your shields, or
on them.
Stesichoros
Forget the wars with me and sing, for the very Gods
delight in our feasts, in love, and listening.
Apollo loves the musicians' merrymakings and song. Hades got
as his lot lamentings and grief.
Strato
Drink now and love, Damocrates, since not for ever shall
we drink nor for ever hold fast our delight; let us crown
our heads with garlands and perfume ourselves, before others
bring these offerings to our graves.
Symacchus
What matters the path by which one seeks the truth? One
road alone does not suffice to attain so great a
mystery!
Publius Syrius
As men, we are all equal before death.
He doubly benefits the needy who gives early.
To do two things at once is to do neither well.
Many receive advice: few profit by it.
Whatever you can lose you should reckon of no account.
What is left when honor is lost?
Anyone can hold the helm while the sea is calm.
No pleasure endures unseasoned by variety.
Necessity knows no law except to prevail.
Tabith of Harran
And we are the heirs, and transmitters to our heirs, of
paganism, which is honored gloriously in this world. Lucky
is he who beareth the burden with a sure hope for the sake
of paganism. Who hath made the world to be inhabited and
flooded it with cities except the good men and kings of the
pagans? Who hath constructed harbors and conserved rivers?
Who hath made manifest the hidden sciences? On whom hath
dawned the divinity which giveth oracles and teacheth
knowledge of the future except the wise men of the pagans?
It is they who have pointed out all these things, and have
made to arise the healing of souls, and have made to shine
forth their redemption, and it is also they who have made
medicines for our bodies. And they have filled the world
with the correct modes of life and with the the wisdom which
is the crown of excellence. Without these products of
paganism the world would be an empty and a needy place, and
it would have been enveloped with sheer want and misery.
Terence
I am a man; nothing human is foreign to me.
Moderation in all things.
Lovers' quarrels are the renewal of love.
Charity begins in the home.
Draw from others the lesson that may most profit
yourself.
Extreme law is often extreme injustice.
While there's life, there's hope.
In fact, nothing is said that has not been said before.
I have everything, yet have nothing; and although I possess
nothing, still of nothing am I in want.
I know the disposition of women: when you will, they won't;
when you won't, they set their hearts upon you of their own
inclination.
Fortune helps the brave.
So many men, so many opinions; every one has his own
way.
Thales
All things are full of Gods.
Theognis
Try for nothing excessive. The middle degree is best.
So, Kyrnos, you will win virtue, a difficult thing to
attain.
Of all things not to be born into the world is best, nor to
see the beams of the keen sun; but being born, as swiftly as
may be to pass the gates of Hades, and lie under a heavy
heap of earth.
Thrasymachus
What I say is that "just" or "right" means nothing but
what is in the interests of the stronger party.
Thucydides
The kind of events that once took place will by reason of
human nature take places again.
Tyrtaeus
He who falls in the vanguard and loses his dear life,
has brought honor to his city and his people and his
father.
Now let every man strive to reach the peak of his prowess
and in his heart never relax from war.
Virgil
Not every soil can bear all things.
No less happy he who knows the rural Gods - Pan, and old
Sylvanus, and the sisterhood of Nymphs.
Your descendents shall gather your fruit.
Love conquers all things; let us surrender to Love.
Happy the man who could search out the causes of things.
Yield not to evils, but attack all the more boldly.
Had I a hundred tongues, a hundred lips, a throat of iron
and a chest of brass, I could not tell all of men's
countless sufferings.
If I cannot bend heaven, I shall move hell.
To have died once is enough.
Fortune favors the bold.
So vast was the struggle to found the Roman state.
One composed of many.
I make no distinction between a Trojan and a Tyrian.
I have known sorrow and learned to aid the wretched.
A woman is always a fickle, unstable thing.
Fate will find a way.
We make our destinies by our choice of Gods.
Xenophanes
One should be thoughtful always and right-minded towards
the Gods.
Zeus is the head, Zeus the middle, through Zeus all things
come to pass.
Not from the start did the Gods reveal all things to
mortals, but in time, by inquiring, they make better
discoveries.
Xystus
God does not listen to the prayers of the lazy.
Zeno
Things are not good or bad - but according to nature, or
contrary to nature.
The wise man will always be involved in public affairs
unless something prevents him.
When asked, "What is a friend?" Zeno replied, "Another
I."
The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.
Zeuxis
Criticism comes easier than craftsmanship.
|
