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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.

-Plutarch

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For The Rich Men

Plutarch

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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.

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Silence Is An Answer To A Wise Man.

Nothing Made The Horse So Fat As The King's Eye.

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?

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.

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

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.'

Nothing Can Produce So Great A Serenity Of Life As A Mind Free From Guilt And Kept Untainted, Not Only From Actions, But Purposes That Are Wicked. By This Means The Soul Will Be Not Only Unpolluted But Also Undisturbed. The Fountain Will Run Clear And Unsullied.

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

Children Ought To Be Led To Honorable Practices By Means Of Encouragement And Reasoning, And Most Certainly Not By Blows And Ill Treatment.

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.

To Conduct Great Matters And Never Commit A Fault Is Above The Force Of Human Nature.

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.

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.

Concerning The Dead Nothing But Good Shall Be Spoken. [lat., De Mortuis Nil Nisi Bonum.]

Time Is The Wisest Of All Counselors.

Time Management

Remember What Simonides Said, That He Never Repented That He Had Held His Tongue, But Often That He Had Spoken.

Words Will Build No Walls.

The Soul Of Man... Is A Portion Or A Copy Of The Soul Of The Universe And Is Joined Together On Principles And In Proportions Corresponding To Those Which Govern The Universe.

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

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.

He (cato) Used To Say That In All His Life He Never Repented But Of Three Things. The First Was That He Had Trusted A Woman With A Secret; The Second That He Had Gone By Sea When He Might Have Gone By Land; And The Third, That Had Passed One Day Without Having A Will By Him.

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?

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.

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.

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

From Themistocles Began The Saying, "he Is A Second Hercules."

Those Who Aim At Great Deeds Must Also Suffer Greatly.

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

Someone Praising A Man For His Foolhardy Bravery, Cato, The Elder, Said, ''there Is A Wide Difference Between True Courage And A Mere Contempt Of Life.

Character Is Long-standing Habit.

Wise Men Are Able To Make A Fitting Use Even Of Their Enmities.

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

For The Wise Man, Every Day Is A Festival.

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

The New King [alexander The Great] Should Perform Acts So Important And Glorious As Would Make The Poets And Musicians Of Future Ages Labour And Sweat To Describe And Celebrate Him.

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

The Giving Of Riches And Honors To A Wicked Man Is Like Giving Strong Wine To Him That Hath A Fever.

When Darius Offered Him Ten Thousand Talents, And To Divide Asia Equally With Him, "i Would Accept It," Said Parmenio, "were I Alexander." "and So Truly Would I," Said Alexander, "if I Were Parmenio." But He Answered Darius That The Earth Could Not Bear Two Suns, Nor Asia Two Kings.

We Ought To Regard Books As We Do Sweetmeats, Not Wholly To Aim At The Pleasantest, But Chiefly To Respect The Wholesomest; Not Forbidding Either, But Approving The Latter Most.

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

Good Fortune Will Elevate Even Petty Minds, And Give Them The Appearance Of A Certain Greatness And Stateliness, As From Their High Place They Look Down Upon The World; But The Truly Noble And Resolved Spirit Raises Itself, And Becomes More Conspicuous In Times Of Disaster And Ill Fortune.

The Abuse Of Buying And Selling Votes Crept In And Money Began To Play An Important Part In Determining Elections. Later On, This Process Of Corruption Spread To The Law Courts. And Then To The Army, And Finally The Republic Was Subjected To The Rule Of Emperors

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

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.''

The Generous Mind Adds Dignity To Every Act, And Nothing Misbecomes It.

Do Not Speak Of Your Happiness To One Less Fortunate Than Yourself.

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

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

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.

Nothing Is Cheap Which Is Superfluous, For What One Does Not Need, Is Dear At A Penny.

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

... Being Perpetually Charmed By His Familiar Siren, That Is, By His Geometry, He Neglected To Eat And Drink And Took No Care Of His Person; That He Was Often Carried By Force To The Baths, And When There He Would Trace Geometrical Figures In The Ashes Of The Fire, And With His Finger Draws Lines Upon His Body When It Was Anointed With Oil, Being In A State Of Great Ecstasy And Divinely Possessed By His Science.

Custom Is Almost A Second Nature.

Neither Blame Or Praise Yourself.

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.

They Fought Indeed And Were Slain, But It Was To Maintain The Luxury And The Wealth Of Other Men.

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.

Archimedes Had Stated, That Given The Force, Any Given Weight Might Be Moved; And Even Boasted That If There Were Another Earth, By Going Into It He Could Remove This.

He Shall Fare Well Who Confronts Circumstances Aright.

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

Economic Inequality

Themistocles Being Asked Whether He Would Rather Be Achilles Or Homer, Said, "which Would You Rather Be, A Conqueror In The Olympic Games, Or The Crier That Proclaims Who Are Conquerors?

Beauty Is The Flower Of Virtue.

Friendship Is The Most Pleasant Of All Things, And Nothing More Glads The Heart Of Man.

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

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

A Soldier Told Pelopidas, "we Are Fallen Among The Enemies." Said He, "how Are We Fallen Among Them More Than They Among Us?"

Ease And Speed In Doing A Thing Do Not Give The Work Lasting Solidity Or Exactness Of Beauty.

Lysander, When Dionysius Sent Him Two Gowns, And Bade Him Choose Which He Would Carry To His Daughter, Said, "she Can Choose Best," And So Took Both Away With Him.

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

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.

It Is A Difficult Task, O Citizens, To Make Speeches To The Belly, Which Has No Ears.

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.

Let Us Not Wonder If Something Happens Which Never Was Before, Or If Something Doth Not Appear Among Us With Which The Ancients Were Acquainted.

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

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

A Few Vices Are Sufficient To Darken Many Virtues.

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."

The Wildest Colts Make The Best Horses.

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

It Is Not Reasonable That He Who Does Not Shoot Should Hit The Mark, Nor That He Who Does Not Stand Fast At His Post Should Win The Day, Or That The Helpless Man Should Succeed Or The Coward Prosper.

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.

Abstruse Questions Must Have Abstruse Answers.

Either Is Both, And Both Is Neither.

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

Pittacus Said, "every One Of You Hath His Particular Plague, And My Wife Is Mine; And He Is Very Happy Who Hath This Only".

It Were Better To Have No Opinion Of God At All Than Such A One As Is Unworthy Of Him; For The One Is Only Belief - The Other Contempt.

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

The Ripeness Of Adolescence Is Prodigal In Pleasures, Skittish, And In Need Of A Bridle.

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.

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

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

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.

Fortune Had Favoured Me In This War That I Feared, The Rather, That Some Tempest Would Follow So Favourable A Gale.

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

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

Forgetfulness Transforms Every Occurrence Into A Non-occurrence.

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.

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.

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.

Time Which Diminishes All Things Increases Understanding For The Aging.

Evidence Of Trust Begets Trust, And Love Is Reciprocated By Love.

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.

One Made The Observation Of The People Of Asia That They Were All Slaves To One Man, Merely Because They Could Not Pronounce That Syllable No.

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.

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.

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

Knavery Is The Best Defense Against A Knave.

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.

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

It Is A True Proverb, That If You Live With A Lame Man, You Will Learn To Limp.

If I Were Not Alexander, I Would Be Diogenes.

Good Birth Is A Fine Thing, But The Merit Is Our Ancestors.

Philosophy Is An Act Of Living.

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

It Is Not The Most Distinguished Achievements That Men's Virtues Or Vices May Be Best Discovered; But Very Often An Action Of Small Note. An Casual Remark Or Joke Shall Distinguish A Person's Real Character More Than The Greatest Sieges, Or The Most Important Battles.

Prosperity Is No Just Scale; Adversity Is The Only Balance To Weigh Friends.

It Is Indeed A Desirable Thing To Be Well-descended, But The Glory Belongs To Our Ancestors.

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.

Grief Is Like A Physical Pain Which Must Be Allowed To Subside Somewhat On Its Own Before Medical Treatment Is Applied.

Democritus Said, Words Are But The Shadows Of Actions.

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.

Rest Is The Sweet Sauce Of Labor.

The Process May Seem Strange And Yet It Is Very True. I Did Not So Much Gain The Knowledge Of Things By The Words, As Words By The Experience I Had Of Things.

Dionysius The Elder, Being Asked Whether He Was At Leisure, He Replied, "god Forbid That It Should Ever Befall Me!"

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.

The Poor Go To War, To Fight And Die For The Delights, Riches, And Superfluities Of Others.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

There Is No Perfecter Endowment In Man Than Political Virtue.

He Who Reflects On Another Man's Want Of Breeding, Shows He Wants It As Much Himself

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.

A Fool Cannot Hold His Tongue.

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

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.

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.

King Agis Said, "the Lacedæmonians Are Not Wont To Ask How Many, But Where The Enemy Are."

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.

For Man Is A Plant, Not Fixed In The Earth, Nor Immovable, But Heavenly, Whose Head, Rising As It Were From A Root Upwards, Is Turned Towards Heaven.

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

The First Man . . . Ventured To Call Food And Nourishment The Parts That Had A Little Before Bellowed And Cried, Moved And Lived. How Could His Eyes Endure The Slaughter When Throats Were Slit And Hides Flayed And Limbs Torn From Limb? How Could His Nose Endure The Stench? How Was It That The Pollution Did Not Turn Away His Taste, Which Made Contact With The Sores Of Others And Sucked Juices And Serums From Mortal Wounds?

Character Is Inured Habit.

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

I Don't Need A Friend Who Changes When I Change And Who Nods When I Nod; My Shadow Does That Much Better.

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

He Who Busies Himself In Mean Occupations, Produces In The Very Pains He Takes About Things Of Little Or No Use, An Evidence Against Himself Of His Negligence And Indisposition To What Is Really Good

Real Excellence, Indeed, Is Most Recognized When Most Openly Looked Into.

When One Is Transported By Rage, It Is Best To Observe Attentively The Effects On Those Who Deliver Themselves Over To The Same Passion.

Antisthenes Says That In A Certain Faraway Land The Cold Is So Intense That Words Freeze As Soon As They Are Uttered, And After Some Time Then Thaw And Become Audible, So That Words Spoken In Winter Go Unheard Until The Next Summer.

Whenever Alexander Heard Philip Had Taken Any Town Of Importance, Or Won Any Signal Victory, Instead Of Rejoicing At It Altogether, He Would Tell His Companions That His Father Would Anticipate Everything, And Leave Him And Them No Opportunities Of Performing Great And Illustrious Actions.

Xenophon Says That There Is No Sound More Pleasing Than One's Own Praises.

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

A Locanian Having Plucked All The Feathers Off From A Nightingale And Seeing What A Little Body It Had, "surely," Quoth He, "thou Art All Voice And Nothing Else.

For The Correct Analogy For The Mind Is Not A Vessel That Needs Filling, But Wood That Needs Igniting.

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

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.

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

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.

It Was Not Important How Many Enemies There Are, But Where The Enemy Is

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?

Silence At The Proper Season Is Wisdom, And Better Than Any Speech.

To Please The Many Is To Displease The Wise.

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.

As Those That Pull Down Private Houses Adjoining To The Temples Of The Gods, Prop Up Such Parts As Are Contiguous To Them; So, In Undermining Bashfulness, Due Regard Is To Be Had To Adjacent Modesty, Good-nature And Humanity.

The Crowns Of Kings Do Not Prevent Those Who Wear Them From Being Tormented Sometimes By Violent Headaches.

Nothing Exists In The Intellect That Has Not First Gone Through The Senses.

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

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

It Does Not Follow, That Because A Particular Work Of Art Succeeds In Charming Us, Its Creator Also Deserves Our Admiration.

Painting Is Silent Poetry.

Talkativeness Has Another Plague Attached To It, Even Curiosity; For Praters Wish To Hear Much That They May Have Much To Say.

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

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.

When A Man's Eyes Are Sore His Friends Do Not Let Him Finger Them, However Much He Wishes To, Nor Do They Themselves Touch The Inflammation: But A Man Sunk In Grief Suffers Every Chance Comer To Stir And Augment His Affliction Like A Running Sore; And By Reason Of The Fingering And Consequent Irritation It Hardens Into A Serious And Intractable Evil.

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

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.

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

Zeno First Started That Doctrine, That Knavery Is The Best Defence Against A Knave.

Not By Lamentations And Mournful Chants Ought We To Celebrate The Funeral Of A Good Man, But By Hymns, For In Ceasing To Be Numbered With Mortals He Enters Upon The Heritage Of A Diviner Life.

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.

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

If You Declare That You Are Naturally Designed For Such A Diet, Then First Kill For Yourself What You Want To Eat. Do It, However, Only Through Your Own Resources, Unaided By Cleaver Or Cudgel Or Any Kind Of Ax

Our Nature Holds So Much Envy And Malice That Our Pleasure In Our Own Advantages Is Not So Great As Our Distress At Others'.

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.

That We May Consult Concerning Others, And Not Others Concerning Us.

The First Evil Those Who Are Prone To Talk Suffer, Is That They Hear Nothing.

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

The Mind Is Not A Vessel To Be Filled But A Fire To Be Kindled.

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.

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."

Among Real Friends There Is No Rivalry Or Jealousy Of One Another, But They Are Satisfied And Contented Alike Whether They Are Equal Or One Of Them Is Superior.

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."

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.

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.

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

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

I, For My Part, Wonder Of What Sort Of Feeling, Mind Or Reason That Man Was Possessed Who Was First To Pollute His Mouth With Gore, And To Allow His Lips To Touch The Flesh Of A Murdered Being: Who Spread His Table With The Mangled Forms Of Dead Bodies, And Claimed As Daily Food And Dainty Dishes What But Now Were Beings Endowed With Movement, Perception And With Voice. …but For The Sake Of Some Little Mouthful Of Flesh, We Deprive A Soul Of The Sun And Light, And Of That Portion Of Life And Time It Had Been Born In To The World To Enjoy.

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

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Teresa Of Avila

George A. Moore

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