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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?

-Plutarch

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The First Man .

Plutarch

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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?

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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.

Had I A Careful And Pleasant Companion That Should Show Me My Angry Face In A Glass, I Should Not At All Take It Ill; To Behold Man's Self So Unnaturally Disguised And Dishonored Will Conduce Not A Little To The Impeachment Of Anger.

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

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

Either Is Both, And Both Is Neither.

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

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.

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

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.

I Had Rather Men Should Ask Why My Statue Is Not Set Up, Than Why It Is.

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.

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?

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?

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

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

The Real Destroyer Of The Liberties Of The People Is He Who Spreads Among Them Bounties, Donations And Benefits.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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

For, In The Language Of Heraclitus, The Virtuous Soul Is Pure And Unmixed Light, Springing From The Body As A Flash Of Lightning Darts From The Cloud. But The Soul That Is Carnal And Immersed In Sense, Like A Heavy And Dank Vapor, Can With Difficulty Be Kindled, And Caused To Raise Its Eyes Heavenward.

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.

When Another Is Asked A Question, Take Special Care Not To Interrupt To Answer It Yourself.

He (cato) Never Gave His Opinion In The Senate Upon Any Other Point Whatever, Without Adding These Words, "and, In My Opinion Carthage Should Be Destroyed." ["delenda Est Carthago."]

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.

Since, During Storms, Flames Leap From The Humid Vapors And Dark Clouds Emit Deafening Noises, Is It Surprising The Lightning, When It Strikes The Ground, Gives Rise To Truffles, Which Do Not Resemble Plants?

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

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

Forgetfulness Transforms Every Occurrence Into A Non-occurrence.

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.

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.

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

For To Err In Opinion, Though It Be Not The Part Of Wise Men, Is At Least Human.

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.

Character Is Simply Habit Long Continued.

A Few Vices Are Sufficient To Darken Many Virtues.

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.

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

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

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?

What Can They Suffer That Do Not Fear To Die?

Instead Of Using Medicine, Better Fast Today.

Nor Is Drunkenness Censured For Anything So Much As Its Intemperate And Endless Talk.

To Please The Many Is To Displease The Wise.

Fate Leads Him Who Follows It, And Drags Him Who Resist.

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.

Time Is The Wisest Of All Counselors.

Time Management

Euripides Was Wont To Say, Silence Was An Answer To A Wise Man; But We Seem To Have Greater Occasion For It In Our Dealing With Fools And Unreasonable Persons; For Men Of Breeding And Sense Will Be Satisfied With Reason And Fair Words.

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.

The Wildest Colts Make The Best Horses.

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.

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

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

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 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?

After He Routed Pharnaces Ponticus At The First Assault, He Wrote Thus To His Friends: "i Came, I Saw, I Conquered.

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

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.

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.

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.

Reason Speaks And Feeling Bites

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.

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.

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!".

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.

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

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

Nature And Wisdom Never Are At Strife.

The Whole Life Of Man Is But A Point Of Time; Let Us Enjoy It.

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.

Demosthenes Told Phocion, "the Athenians Will Kill You Some Day When They Once Are In A Rage." "and You," Said He, "if They Are Once In Their Senses."

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

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.

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

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."

... 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.

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

The Pilot Cannot Mitigate The Billows Or Calm The Winds.

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

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

To Fail To Do Good Is As Bad As Doing Harm.

Those Who Aim At Great Deeds Must Also Suffer Greatly.

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

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

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.

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.

Athenodorus Says Hydrophobia, Or Water-dread, Was First Discovered In The Time Of Asclepiades.

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.

When Men Are Arrived At The Goal, They Should Not Turn Back.

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.

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.'

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

Philosophy Is An Act Of Living.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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?

Being Conscious Of Having Done A Wicked Action Leaves Stings Of Remorse Behind It, Which, Like An Ulcer In The Flesh, Makes The Mind Smart With Perpetual Wounds; For Reason, Which Chases Away All Other Pains, Creates Repentance, Shames The Soul With Confusion, And Punishes It With Torment.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

Nor Let Us Part With Justice, Like A Cheap And Common Thing, For A Small And Trifling Price.

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

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

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

Neither Blame Or Praise Yourself.

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

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

Both Empedocles And Heraclitus Held It For A Truth That Man Could Not Be Altogether Cleared From Injustice In Dealing With Beasts As He Now Does.

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.

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

Our Senses Through Ignorance Of Reality, Falsely Tell Us That What Appears To Be, Is. Fear = False Evidence Appearing Real

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

Themistocles Replied That A Man's Discourse Was Like To A Rich Persian Carpet, The Beautiful Figures And Patterns Of Which Can Only Be Shown By Spreading And Extending It Out; When It Is Contracted And Folded Up, They Are Obscured And Lost.

Phocion Compared The Speeches Of Leosthenes To Cypress-trees. "they Are Tall," Said He, "and Comely, But Bear No Fruit."

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.

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.'

Distressed Valor Challenges Great Respect, Even From An Enemy.

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

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

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

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.

I Do Not Think That Shoemaker A Good Workman That Makes A Great Shoe For A Little Foot.

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

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.

Silence Is An Answer To A Wise Man.

Words Will Build No Walls.

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.

Democritus Said, Words Are But The Shadows Of Actions.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

Were It Only To Learn Benevolence To Humankind, We Should Be Merciful To Other Creatures.

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.

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.

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

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

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."

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

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

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

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.

The Man Who Is Completely Wise And Virtuous Has No Need Of Glory, Except So Far As It Disposes And Eases His Way To Action By The Greater Trust That It Procures Him.

But Being Overborne With Numbers, And Nobody Daring To Face About, Stretching Out His Hands To Heaven, [romulus] Prayed To Jupiter To Stop The Army, And Not To Neglect But Maintain The Roman Cause, Now In Extreme Danger. The Prayer Was No Sooner Made, Than Shame And Respect For Their King Checked Many; The Fears Of The Fugitives Changed Suddenly Into Confidence.

A Healer Of Others, Himself Diseased.

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

I See The Cure Is Not Worth The Pain.

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.

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.

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

He Who Owns A Hundred Sheep Must Fight With Fifty Wolves

Custom Is Almost A Second Nature.

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

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.''

Once When Phocion Had Delivered An Opinion Which Pleased The People, He Turned To His Friend And Said, "have I Not Unawares Spoken Some Mischievous Thing Or Other?"

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.

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

Those Are Greedy Of Praise Prove That They Are Poor In Merit.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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."

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

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

Economic Inequality

If I Were Not Alexander, I Would Be Diogenes.

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.

There Are Two Sentences Inscribed Upon The Ancient Oracle... "know Thyself" And "nothing Too Much"; And Upon These All Other Precepts Depend.

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?

Character Is Long-standing Habit.

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.

Water Continually Dropping Will Wear Hard Rocks Hollow.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Friedrich Nietzsche

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