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As To Caesar, When He Was Called Upon, He Gave No Testimony Against Clodius, Nor Did He Affirm That He Was Certain Of Any Injury Done To His Bed. He Only Said, He Had Divorced Pompeia Because The Wife Of Caesar Ought Not Only To Be Clear Of Such A Crime, But Of The Very Suspicion Of It.

-Plutarch

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As To Caesar, When

Plutarch

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As To Caesar, When He Was Called Upon, He Gave No Testimony Against Clodius, Nor Did He Affirm That He Was Certain Of Any Injury Done To His Bed. He Only Said, He Had Divorced Pompeia Because The Wife Of Caesar Ought Not Only To Be Clear Of Such A Crime, But Of The Very Suspicion Of It.

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Wisdom Is Neither Gold, Nor Silver, Nor Fame, Nor Wealth, Nor Health, Nor Strength, Nor Beauty.

Sometimes Small Incidents, Rather Than Glorious Exploits, Give Us The Best Evidence Of Character. So, As Portrait Painters Are More Exact In Doing The Face, Where The Character Is Revealed, Than The Rest Of The Body, I Must Be Allowed To Give My More Particular Attention To The Marks Of The Souls Of Men.

Either Is Both, And Both Is Neither.

Lampis, The Sea Commander, Being Asked How He Got His Wealth, Answered, "my Greatest Estate I Gained Easily Enough, But The Smaller Slowly And With Much Labour.

Barba Non Facit Philosophum

Seeing The Lightest And Gayest Purple Was Then Most In Fashion, He Would Always Wear That Which Was The Nearest Black; And He Would Often Go Out Of Doors, After His Morning Meal, Without Either Shoes Or Tunic; Not That He Sought Vain-glory From Such Novelties, But He Would Accustom Himself To Be Ashamed Only Of What Deserves Shame, And To Despise All Other Sorts Of Disgrace.

In Words Are Seen The State Of Mind And Character And Disposition Of The Speaker.

Water Continually Dropping Will Wear Hard Rocks Hollow.

The Most Glorious Exploits Do Not Always Furnish Us With The Clearest Discoveries Of Virtue Or Vice In Men.

Friendship Requires A Steady, Constant, And Unchangeable Character, A Person That Is Uniform In His Intimacy.

It Is Not Histories I Am Writing, But Lives; And In The Most Glorious Deeds There Is Not Always An Indication Of Virtue Or Vice, Indeed A Small Thing Like A Phrase Or A Jest Often Makes A Greater Revelation Of A Character Than Battles Where Thousands Die.

Aristodemus, A Friend Of Antigonus, Supposed To Be A Cook's Son, Advised Him To Moderate His Gifts And Expenses. "thy Words," Said He, "aristodemus, Smell Of The Apron.

Where Two Discourse, If The Anger Of One Rises, He Is The Wise Man Who Lets The Contest Fall.

It Is A Thing Of No Great Difficulty To Raise Objections Against Another Man's Oration, It Is A Very Easy Matter; But To Produce A Better In It's Place Is A Work Extremely Troublesome.

Antagoras The Poet Was Boiling A Conger, And Antigonus, Coming Behind Him As He Was Stirring His Skillet, Said, "do You Think, Antagoras, That Homer Boiled Congers When He Wrote The Deeds Of Agamemnon?" Antagoras Replied, "do You Think, O King, That Agamemnon, When He Did Such Exploits, Was A Peeping In His Army To See Who Boiled Congers?

Blinded As They Are To Their True Character By Self-love, Every Man Is His Own First And Chiefest Flatterer, Prepared, Therefore, To Welcome The Flatterer From The Outside, Who Only Comes Confirming The Verdict Of The Flatterer Within.

When Demosthenes Was Asked What Was The First Part Of Oratory, He Answered, "action," And Which Was The Second, He Replied, "action," And Which Was The Third, He Still Answered "action.

Where The Lion's Skin Will Not Reach, You Must Patch It Out With The Fox's.

And Archimedes, As He Was Washing, Thought Of A Manner Of Computing The Proportion Of Gold In King Hiero's Crown By Seeing The Water Flowing Over The Bathing-stool. He Leaped Up As One Possessed Or Inspired, Crying, "i Have Found It! Eureka!".

We Rich Men Count Our Felicity And Happiness To Lie In These Superfluities, And Not In Those Necessary Things.

A Roman Divorced From His Wife, Being Highly Blamed By His Friends, Who Demanded, "was She Not Chaste? Was She Not Fair? Was She Not Fruitful?" Holding Out His Shoe, Asked Them Whether It Was Not New And Well Made. "yet," Added He, "none Of You Can Tell Where It Pinches Me.''

As Geographers, Sosius, Crowd Into The Edges Of Their Maps Parts Of The World Which They Do Not Know About, Adding Notes In The Margin To The Effect That Beyond This Lies Nothing But Sandy Deserts Full Of Wild Beasts, And Unapproachable Bogs.

The Pilot Cannot Mitigate The Billows Or Calm The Winds.

Oh, What A World Full Of Pain We Create, For A Little Taste Upon The Tongue.

We Ought To Give Our Friend Pain If It Will Benefit Him, But Not To The Extent Of Breaking Off Our Friendship; But Just As We Make Use Of Some Biting Medicine That Will Save And Preserve The Life Of The Patient. And So The Friend, Like A Musician, In Bringing About An Improvement To What Is Good And Expedient, Sometimes Slackens The Chords, Sometimes Tightens Them, And Is Often Pleasant, But Always Useful.

Let A Prince Be Guarded With Soldiers, Attended By Councillors, And Shut Up In Forts; Yet If His Thoughts Disturb Him, He Is Miserable.

The Obligations Of Law And Equity Reach Only To Mankind; But Kindness And Beneficence Should Be Extended To The Creatures Of Every Species, And These Will Flow From The Breast Of A True Man, As Streams That Issue From The Living Fountain.

To One That Promised To Give Him Hardy Cocks That Would Die Fighting, "prithee," Said Cleomenes, "give Me Cocks That Will Kill Fighting.

The Saying Of Old Antigonus, Who When He Was To Fight At Andros, And One Told Him, "the Enemy's Ships Are More Than Ours," Replied, "for How Many Then Wilt Thou Reckon Me?

So Long As He Was Personally Present, [alcibiades] Had The Perfect Mastery Of His Political Adversaries; Calumny Only Succeeded In His Absence.

There Is No Stronger Test Of A Person's Character Than Power And Authority, Exciting As They Do Every Passion, And Discovering Every Latent Vice.

He Who Least Likes Courting Favour, Ought Also Least To Think Of Resenting Neglect; To Feel Wounded At Being Refused A Distinction Can Only Arise From An Overweening Appetite To Have It.

It Is A Hard Matter, My Fellow Citizens, To Argue With The Belly, Since It Has No Ears.

There Is Never The Body Of A Man, How Strong And Stout Soever, If It Be Troubled And Inflamed, But Will Take More Harm And Offense By Wine Being Poured Into It.

He [caesar] Loved The Treason, But Hated The Traitor.

The Superstitious Man Wishes He Did Not Believe In Gods, As The Atheist Does Not, But Fears To Disbelieve In Them.

When Philip Had News Brought Him Of Divers And Eminent Successes In One Day, "o Fortune!" Said He, "for All These So Great Kindnesses Do Me Some Small Mischief.

Painting Is Silent Poetry.

Learn To Be Pleased With Everything, With Wealth So Far As It Makes Us Beneficial To Others; With Poverty, For Not Having Much To Care For; And With Obscurity, For Being Unenvied.

The Omission Of Good Is No Less Reprehensible Than The Commission Of Evil.

Agesilaus Being Invited Once To Hear A Man Who Admirably Imitated The Nightingale, He Declined, Saying He Had Heard The Nightingale Itself.

For He Who Gives No Fuel To Fire Puts It Out, And Likewise He Who Does Not In The Beginning Nurse His Wrath And Does Not Puff Himself Up With Anger Takes Precautions Against It And Destroys It.

The Conduct Of A Wise Politician Is Ever Suited To The Present Posture Of Affairs. Often By Foregoing A Part He Saves The Whole, And By Yielding In A Small Matter Secures A Greater.

It Is The Admirer Of Himself, And Not The Admirer Of Virtue, That Thinks Himself Superior To Others.

The Present Offers Itself To Our Touch For Only An Instant Of Time And Then Eludes The Senses.

Wickedness Frames The Engines Of Her Own Torment. She Is A Wonderful Artisan Of A Miserable Life.

Alexander Esteemed It More Kingly To Govern Himself Than To Conquer His Enemies.

I Have Heard That Tiberius Used To Say That That Man Was Ridiculous, Who After Sixth Years, Appealed To A Physician.

We Ought Not To Treat Living Creatures Like Shoes Or Household Belongings, Which When Worn With Use We Throw Away.

Note That The Eating Of Flesh Is Not Only Physically Against Nature, But It Also Makes Us Spiritually Coarse And Gross By Reason Of Satiety And Surfeit.

Cato Used To Assert That Wise Men Profited More By Fools Than Fools By Wise Men; For That Wise Men Avoided The Faults Of Fools, But That Fools Would Not Imitate The Good Examples Of Wise Men.

I, For My Own Part, Had Much Rather People Should Say Of Me That There Neither Is Nor Ever Was Such A Man As Plutarch, Than That They Should Say, "plutarch Is An Unsteady, Fickle, Froward, Vindictive, And Touchy Fellow.

Courage Consists Not In Hazarding Without Fear; But Being Resolutely Minded In A Just Cause.

As Soft Wax Is Apt To Take The Stamp Of The Seal, So Are The Minds Of Young Children To Receive The Instruction Imprinted On Them.

If I Were Not Alexander, I Would Be Diogenes.

Rather I Fear On The Contrary That While We Banish Painful Thoughts We May Banish Memory As Well.

It Is Circumstance And Proper Measure That Give An Action Its Character, And Make It Either Good Or Bad.

A Remorseful Change Of Mind Renders Even A Noble Action Base, Whereas The Determination Which Is Grounded On Knowledge And Reason Cannot Change Even If Its Actions Fail.

Plato Used To Say To Xenocrates The Philosopher, Who Was Rough And Morose, "good Xenocrates, Sacrifice To The Graces.

Nature And Wisdom Never Are At Strife.

When Eudæmonidas Heard A Philosopher Arguing That Only A Wise Man Can Be A Good General, "this Is A Wonderful Speech," Said He; "but He That Saith It Never Heard The Sound Of Trumpets.

The Measure Of A Man Is The Way He Bears Up Under Misfortune.

Vos Vestros Servate, Meos Mihi Linquite Mores You Keep To Your Own Ways, And Leave Mine To Me

So Very Difficult A Matter Is It To Trace And Find Out The Truth Of Anything By History.

Nature Without Learning Is Like A Blind Man; Learning Without Nature, Like A Maimed One; Practice Without Both, Incomplete. As In Agriculture A Good Soil Is First Sought For, Then A Skilful Husbandman, And Then Good Seed; In The Same Way Nature Corresponds To The Soil, The Teacher To The Husbandman, Precepts And Instruction To The Seed.

Not By Lamentations And Mournful Chants Ought We To Celebrate The Funeral Of A Good Man, But By Hymns; For, Ion Ceasing To Be Numbered With Mortals, He Enters Upon The Heritage Of A Diviner Life. Since He Is Gone Where He Feels No Pain, Let Us Not Indulge In Too Much Grief. The Soul Is Incapable Of Death. And He, Like A Bird Not Long Enough In His Cage To Become Attached To It, Is Free To Fly Away To A Purer Air. . . . Since We Cherish A Trust Like This, Let Our Outward Actions Be In Accord With It, And Let Us Keep Our Hearts Pure And Our Minds Calm.

A Friend Should Be Like Money, Tried Before Being Required, Not Found Faulty In Our Need.

In Human Life There Is Constant Change Of Fortune; And It Is Unreasonable To Expect An Exemption From The Common Fate. Life Itself Decays, And All Things Are Daily Changing.

Pythias Once, Scoffing At Demosthenes, Said That His Arguments Smelt Of The Lamp.

Moral Good Is A Practical Stimulus; It Is No Sooner Seen Than It Inspires An Impulse To Practice.

Neither Blame Or Praise Yourself.

It Is No Flattery To Give A Friend A Due Character; For Commendation Is As Much The Duty Of A Friend As Reprehension.

While Leonidas Was Preparing To Make His Stand, A Persian Envoy Arrived. The Envoy Explained To Leonidas The Futility Of Trying To Resist The Advance Of The Great King's Army And Demanded That The Greeks Lay Down Their Arms And Submit To The Might Of Persia. Leonidas Laconically Told Xerxes, "come And Get Them.

What Most Of All Enables A Man To Serve The Public Is Not Wealth, But Content And Independence; Which, Requiring No Superfluity At Home, Distracts Not The Mind From The Common Good.

Know How To Listen, And You Will Profit Even From Those Who Talk Badly.

I Confess Myself The Greatest Coward In The World, For I Dare Not Do An Ill Thing.

It Is No Disgrace Not To Be Able To Do Everything; But To Undertake, Or Pretend To Do, What You Are Not Made For, Is Not Only Shameful, But Extremely Troublesome And Vexatious.

The Worship Most Acceptable To God Comes From A Thankful And Cheerful Heart.

Wickedness Is A Wonderfully Diligent Architect Of Misery, Of Shame, Accompanied With Terror, And Commotion, And Remorse, And Endless Perturbation.

An Old Doting Fool, With One Foot Already In The Grave.

Knavery Is The Best Defense Against A Knave.

Cicero Called Aristotle A River Of Flowing Gold, And Said Of Plato's Dialogues, That If Jupiter Were To Speak, It Would Be In Language Like Theirs.

A Lover's Soul Lives In The Body Of His Mistress.

Pompey Bade Sylla Recollect That More Worshipped The Rising Than The Setting Sun.

Gout Is Not Relieved By A Fine Shoe Nor A Hangnail By A Costly Ring Nor Migraine By A Tiara.

To Harmodius, Descended From The Ancient Harmodius, When He Reviled Iphicrates [a Shoemaker's Son] For His Mean Birth, "my Nobility," Said He, "begins In Me, But Yours Ends In You.

The Authors Of Great Evils Know Best How To Remove Them.

Painting Is Silent Poetry, And Poetry Is Painting That Speaks.

When One Told Plistarchus That A Notorious Railer Spoke Well Of Him, "i'll Lay My Life," Said He, "somebody Hath Told Him I Am Dead, For He Can Speak Well Of No Man Living.'

For There Is No Virtue, The Honour And Credit For Which Procures A Man More Odium From The Elite Than That Of Justice; And This, Because More Than Any Other, It Acquires A Man Power And Authority Among The Common People. For They Only Honour The Valiant And Admire The Wise, While In Addition They Also Love Just Men, And Put Entire Trust And Confidence In Them.

For The Mind Does Not Require Filling Like A Bottle, But Rather, Like Wood, It Only Requires Kindling To Create In It An Impulse To Think Independently And An Ardent Desire For The Truth.

Alcibiades Had A Very Handsome Dog, That Cost Him Seven Thousand Drachmas; And He Cut Off His Tail, "that," Said He, "the Athenians May Have This Story To Tell Of Me, And May Concern Themselves No Further With Me.

To Do An Evil Action Is Base; To Do A Good Action Without Incurring Danger Is Common Enough; But It Is The Part Of A Good Man To Do Great And Noble Deeds, Though He Risks Every Thing.

He Who Owns A Hundred Sheep Must Fight With Fifty Wolves

But For The Sake Of Some Little Mouthful Of Flesh We Deprive A Soul Of The Sun And Light, And Of That Proportion Of Life And Time It Had Been Born Into The World To Enjoy.

God Is The Brave Man's Hope, And Not The Coward's Excuse.

If We Traverse The World, It Is Possible To Find Cities Without Walls, Without Letters, Without Kings, Without Wealth, Without Coin, Without Schools And Theatres; But A City Without A Temple, Or That Practiseth Not Worship, Prayer, And The Like, No One Ever Saw.

By The Study Of Their Biographies, We Receive Each Man As A Guest Into Our Minds, And We Seem To Understand Their Character As The Result Of A Personal Acquaintance, Because We Have Obtained From Their Acts The Best And Most Important Means Of Forming An Opinion About Them. "what Greater Pleasure Could'st Thou Gain Than This?" What More Valuable For The Elevation Of Our Own Character?

Memory: What Wonders It Performs In Preserving And Storing Up Things Gone By - Or Rather, Things That Are

Foreign Lady Once Remarked To The Wife Of A Spartan Commander That The Women Of Sparta Were The Only Women In The World Who Could Rule Men. "we Are The Only Women Who Raise Men," The Spartan Lady Replied.

Pompey Had Fought Brilliantly And In The End Routed Caesar's Whole Force... But Either He Was Unable To Or Else He Feared To Push On. Caesar [said] To His Friends: 'today The Enemy Would Have Won, If They Had Had A Commander Who Was A Winner.'

As Small Letters Hurt The Sight, So Do Small Matters Him That Is Too Much Intent Upon Them; They Vex And Stir Up Anger, Which Begets An Evil Habit In Him In Reference To Greater Affairs.

Men Who Marry Wives Very Much Superior To Themselves Are Not So Truly Husbands To Their Wives As They Are Unawares Made Slaves To Their Position.

An Imbalance Between Rich And Poor Is The Oldest And Most Fatal Ailment Of All Republics.

Economic Inequality

Learn To Be Pleased With Everything...because It Could Always Be Worse, But Isn't!

Of The Land Which The Romans Gained By Conquest From Their Neighbours, Part They Sold Publicly, And Turned The Remainder Into Common; This Common Land They Assigned To Such Of The Citizens As Were Poor And Indigent, For Which They Were To Pay Only A Small Acknowledgment Into The Public Treasury. But When The Wealthy Men Began To Offer Larger Rents, And Drive The Poorer People Out, It Was Enacted By Law That No Person Whatever Should Enjoy More Than Five Hundred Acres Of Ground.

Julius Caesar Divorced His Wife Pompeia, But Declared At The Trial That He Knew Nothing Of What Was Alleged Against Her And Clodius. When Asked Why, In That Case, He Had Divorced Her, He Replied: Because I Would Have The Chastity Of My Wife Clear Even Of Suspicion.

It Is A High Distinction For A Homely Woman To Be Loved For Her Character Rather Than For Beauty.

As To Caesar, When He Was Called Upon, He Gave No Testimony Against Clodius, Nor Did He Affirm That He Was Certain Of Any Injury Done To His Bed. He Only Said, He Had Divorced Pompeia Because The Wife Of Caesar Ought Not Only To Be Clear Of Such A Crime, But Of The Very Suspicion Of It.

Thrasyllus The Cynic Begged A Drachm Of Antigonus. "that," Said He, "is Too Little For A King To Give." "why, Then," Said The Other, "give Me A Talent." "and That," Said He, "is Too Much For A Cynic (or, For A Dog) To Receive."

Hesiod Might As Well Have Kept His Breath To Cool His Pottage.

Though Others Before Him Had Triumphed Three Times, Pompeius, By Having Gained His First Triumph Over Libya, His Second Over Europe, And This The Last Over Asia, Seemed In A Manner To Have Brought The Whole World Into His Three Triumphs.

Man Is Neither By Birth Nor Disposition A Savage, Nor Of Unsocial Habits, But Only Becomes So By Indulging In Vices Contrary To His Nature.

He Who First Called Money The Sinews Of The State Seems To Have Said This With Special Reference To War.

Nothing Is Harder To Direct Than A Man In Prosperity; Nothing More Easily Managed That One Is Adversity.

Philosophy Finds Talkativeness A Disease Very Difficult And Hard To Cure. For Its Remedy, Conversation, Requires Hearers: But Talkative People Hear Nobody, For They Are Ever Prating. And The First Evil This Inability To Keep Silence Produces Is An Inability To Listen.

Socrates Said He Was Not An Athenian Or A Greek, But A Citizen Of The World.

Justice Makes The Life Of Such As Are In Prosperity, Power And Authority The Life Of A God, And Injustice Turns It To That Of A Beast.

The Man Who First Brought Ruin Upon The Roman People Was He Who Pampered Them By Largesses And Amusements.

The State Of Life Is Most Happy Where Superfluities Are Not Required And Necessities Are Not Wanting.

A Good Man Will Take Care Of His Horses And Dogs, Not Only While They Are Young, But When Old And Past Service.

For The Wise Man, Every Day Is A Festival.

A Spartan Woman, As She Handed Her Son His Shield, Exhorted Him Saying, "as A Warrior Of Sparta Come Back With Your Shield Or On It."

To Please The Many Is To Displease The Wise.

It Is Wise To Be Silent When Occasion Requires, And Better Than To Speak, Though Never So Well.

Being Summoned By The Athenians Out Of Sicily To Plead For His Life, Alcibiades Absconded, Saying That That Criminal Was A Fool Who Studied A Defence When He Might Fly For It.

The Drop Hollows Out The Stone Not By Strength, But By Constant Falling.

Anger Turns The Mind Out Of Doors And Bolts The Entrance.

For The Rich Men Without Scruple Drew The Estate Into Their Own Hands, Excluding The Rightful Heirs From Their Succession; And All The Wealth Being Centred Upon The Few, The Generality Were Poor And Miserable. Honourable Pursuits, For Which There Was No Longer Leisure, Were Neglected; The State Was Filled With Sordid Business, And With Hatred And Envy Of The Rich.

Time Is The Wisest Of All Counselors.

Time Management

Choose What Is Best, And Habit Will Make It Pleasant And Easy.

What We Achieve Inwardly Will Change Outer Reality.

I Am All That Hath Been, And Is, And Shall Be; And My Veil No Mortal Has Hitherto Raised.

As Bees Extract Honey From Thyme, The Strongest And Driest Of Herbs, So Sensible Men Often Get Advantage And Profit From The Most Awkward Circumstances.

He Is A Fool Who Lets Slip A Bird In The Hand For A Bird In The Bush.

When A Man's Struggle Begins Within Oneself, The Man Is Worth Something.

These Macedonians Are A Rude And Clownish People; They Call A Spade A Spade.

Demosthenes Overcame And Rendered More Distinct His Inarticulate And Stammering Pronunciation By Speaking With Pebbles In His Mouth.

To The Greeks, The Supreme Function Of Music Was To "praise The Gods And Educate The Youth". In Egypt... Initiatory Music Was Heard Only In Temple Rites Because It Carried The Vibratory Rhythms Of Other Worlds And Of A Life Beyond The Mortal.

Epaminondas Is Reported Wittily To Have Said Of A Good Man That Died About The Time Of The Battle Of Leuctra, "how Came He To Have So Much Leisure As To Die, When There Was So Much Stirring?

Statesmen Are Not Only Liable To Give An Account Of What They Say Or Do In Public, But There Is A Busy Inquiry Made Into Their Very Meals, Beds, Marriages, And Every Other Sportive Or Serious Action.

A Healer Of Others, Himself Diseased.

Speech Is Like Cloth Of Arras Opened And Put Abroad, Whereby The Imagery Doth Appear In Figure; Whereas In Thoughts They Lie But As Packs.

Most People Do Not Understand Until Old Age What Plato Tells Them When They Are Young.

Education And Study, And The Favors Of The Muses, Confer No Greater Benefit On Those That Seek Them Than These Humanizing And Civilizing Lessons, Which Teach Our Natural Qualities To Submit To The Limitations Prescribed By Reason, And To Avoid The Wildness Of Extremes.

The Same Intelligence Is Required To Marshal An Army In Battle And To Order A Good Dinner. The First Must Be As Formidable As Possible, The Second As Pleasant As Possible, To The Participants.

Even A Nod From A Person Who Is Esteemed Is Of More Force Than A Thousand Arguments Or Studied Sentences From Others.

Cicero Said Loud-bawling Orators Were Driven By Their Weakness To Noise, As Lame Men To Take Horse.

The Human Heart Becomes Softened By Hearing Of Instances Of Gentleness And Consideration.

A Human Body In No Way Resembles Those That Were Born For Ravenousness; It Hath No Hawk's Bill, No Sharp Talon, No Roughness Of Teeth, No Such Strength Of Stomach Or Heat Of Digestion, As Can Be Sufficient To Convert Or Alter Such Heavy And Fleshy Fare . . . There Is Nobody That Is Willing To Eat Even A Lifeless And A Dead Thing Even As It Is; So They Boil It, And Roast It, And Alter It By Fire And Medicines, As It Were, Changing And Quenching The Slaughtered Gore With Thousands Of Sweet Sauces, That The Palate Being Thereby Deceived May Admit Of Such Uncouth Fare.

There Is No Perfecter Endowment In Man Than Political Virtue.

Empire May Be Gained By Gold, Not Gold By Empire. It Used, Indeed, To Be A Proverb That "it Is Not Philip, But Philip's Gold That Takes The Cities Of Greece.

Poverty Is Not Dishonorable In Itself, But Only When It Comes From Idleness, Intemperance, Extravagance, And Folly.

A Physician, After He Had Felt The Pulse Of Pausanias, And Considered His Constitution, Saying, "he Ails Nothing," "it Is Because, Sir," He Replied, "i Use None Of Your Physic."

If Any Man Think It A Small Matter, Or Of Mean Concernment, To Bridle His Tongue, He Is Much Mistaken; For It Is A Point To Be Silent When Occasion Requires, And Better Than To Speak, Though Never So Well.

When I Myself Had Twice Or Thrice Made A Resolute Resistance Unto Anger, The Like Befell Me That Did The Thebans; Who, Having Once Foiled The Lacedaemonians (who Before That Time Had Held Themselves Invincible), Never After Lost So Much As One Battle Which They Fought Against Them.

The Flatterer's Object Is To Please In Everything He Does; Whereas The True Friend Always Does What Is Right, And So Often Gives Pleasure, Often Pain, Not Wishing The Latter, But Not Shunning It Either, If He Deems It Best.

The Old Proverb Was Now Made Good, "the Mountain Had Brought Forth A Mouse.

Words Will Build No Walls.

A Fool Cannot Hold His Tongue.

A Prating Barber Asked Archelaus How He Would Be Trimmed. He Answered, "in Silence."

They Are Wrong Who Think That Politics Is Like An Ocean Voyage Or A Military Campaign, Something To Be Done With Some Particular End In View, Something Which Leaves Off As Soon As That End Is Reached. It Is Not A Public Chore, To Be Got Over With. It Is A Way Of Life. It Is The Life Of A Domesticated Political And Social Creature Who Is Born With A Love For Public Life, With A Desire For Honor, With A Feeling For His Fellows; And It Lasts As Long As Need Be.

To Make No Mistakes Is Not In The Power Of Man; But From Their Errors And Mistakes The Wise And Good Learn Wisdom For The Future.

Lysander Said That The Law Spoke Too Softly To Be Heard In Such A Noise Of War.

Apothegms Are The Most Infallible Mirror To Represent A Man Truly What He Is.

Courage And Wisdom Are, Indeed, Rarities Amongst Men, But Of All That Is Good, A Just Man It Would Seem Is The Most Scarce.

When Demosthenes Was Asked What Were The Three Most Important Aspects Of Oratory, He Answered, 'action, Action, Action.'

Playing The Cretan With The Cretans (i.e. Lying To Liars).

When Anaxagoras Was Told Of The Death Of His Son, He Only Said, "i Knew He Was Mortal." So We In All Casualties Of Life Should Say "i Knew My Riches Were Uncertain, That My Friend Was But A Man." Such Considerations Would Soon Pacify Us, Because All Our Troubles Proceed From Their Being Unexpected.

The Belly Has No Ears.

If You Hate Your Enemies, You Will Contract Such A Vicious Habit Of Mind That It Will Break Out Upon Those Who Are Your Friends, Or Those Who Are Indifferent To You.

To Find Fault Is Easy; To Do Better May Be Difficult.

This Excerpt Is Presented As Reproduced By Copernicus In The Preface To De Revolutionibus: "some Think That The Earth Remains At Rest. But Philolaus The Pythagorean Believes That, Like The Sun And Moon, It Revolves Around The Fire In An Oblique Circle. Heraclides Of Pontus And Ecphantus The Pythagorean Make The Earth Move, Not In A Progressive Motion, But Like A Wheel In Rotation From West To East Around Its Own Center."

Moral Habits, Induced By Public Practices, Are Far Quicker In Making Their Way Into Men's Private Lives, Than The Failings And Faults Of Individuals Are In Infecting The City At Large.

Let Us Carefully Observe Those Good Qualities Wherein Our Enemies Excel Us; And Endeavor To Excel Them, By Avoiding What Is Faulty, And Imitating What Is Excellent In Them.

It Is No Great Wonder If In Long Process Of Time, While Fortune Takes Her Course Hither And Thither, Numerous Coincidences Should Spontaneously Occur. If The Number And Variety Of Subjects To Be Wrought Upon Be Infinite, It Is All The More Easy For Fortune, With Such An Abundance Of Material, To Effect This Similarity Of Results.

Those Who Aim At Great Deeds Must Also Suffer Greatly.

As In The Case Of Painters, Who Have Undertaken To Give Us A Beautiful And Graceful Figure, Which May Have Some Slight Blemishes, We Do Not Wish Then To Pass Over Such Blemishes Altogether, Nor Yet To Mark Them Too Prominently. The One Would Spoil The Beauty, And The Other Destroy The Likeness Of The Picture.

Lying Is A Most Disgraceful Vice; It First Despises God, And Then Fears Men.

Authority And Place Demonstrate And Try The Tempers Of Men, By Moving Every Passion And Discovering Every Frailty.

Rome Was In The Most Dangerous Inclination To Change On Account Of The Unequal Distribution Of Wealth And Property, Those Of Highest Rank And Greatest Spirit Having Impoverished Themselves By Shows, Entertainments, Ambition Of Offices, And Sumptuous Buildings, And The Riches Of The City Having Thus Fallen Into The Hands Of Mean And Low-born Persons. So That There Wanted But A Slight Impetus To Set All In Motion, It Being In The Power Of Every Daring Man To Overturn A Sickly Commonwealth.

Character Is Inured Habit.

Grief Is Natural; The Absence Of All Feeling Is Undesirable, But Moderation In Grief Should Be Observed, As In The Face Of All Good Or Evil.

Lamentation Is The Only Musician That Always, Like A Screech-owl, Alights And Sits On The Roof Of Any Angry Man.

Poverty Is Dishonorable, Not In Itself, But When It Is A Proof Of Laziness, Intemperance, Luxury, And Carelessness; Whereas In A Person That Is Temperate, Industrious, Just And Valiant, And Who Uses All His Virtues For The Public Good, It Shows A Great And Lofty Mind.

Pythagoras, When He Was Asked What Time Was, Answered That It Was The Soul Of This World.

He Who Cheats With An Oath Acknowledges That He Is Afraid Of His Enemy, But That He Thinks Little Of God.

Knowledge Of Divine Things For The Most Part, As Heraclitus Says, Is Lost To Us By Incredulity.

There Is No Debt With So Much Prejudice Put Off As That Of Justice.

Anaximander Says That Men Were First Produced In Fishes, And When They Were Grown Up And Able To Help Themselves Were Thrown Up, And So Lived Upon The Land.

A Warrior Carries His Shield For The Sake Of The Entire Line.

The Talkative Listen To No One, For They Are Ever Speaking. And The First Evil That Attends Those Who Know Not To Be Silent Is That They Hear Nothing.

God Alone Is Entirely Exempt From All Want Of Human Virtues, That Which Needs Least Is The Most Absolute And Divine.

Mothers Ought To Bring Up And Nurse Their Own Children; For They Bring Them Up With Greater Affection And With Greater Anxiety, As Loving Them From The Heart, And So To Speak, Every Inch Of Them.

When Malice Is Joined To Envy, There Is Given Forth Poisonous And Feculent Matter, As Ink From The Cuttle-fish.

What All The World Knows Water Is The Principle, Or The Element, Of Things. All Things Are Water.

Perseverance Is More Prevailing Than Violence; And Many Things Which Cannot Be Overcome When They Are Together, Yield Themselves Up When Taken Little By Little.

All Men Whilst They Are Awake Are In One Common World: But Each Of Them, When He Is Asleep, Is In A World Of His Own.

Vultures Are The Most Righteous Of Birds: They Do Not Attack Even The Smallest Living Creature.

Solon Being Asked, Namely, What City Was Best To Live In. That City, He Replied, In Which Those Who Are Not Wronged, No Less Than Those Who Are Wronged, Exert Themselves To Punish The Wrongdoers.

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