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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.

-Plutarch

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To The Greeks, The

Plutarch

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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.

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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.

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

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."

A Few Vices Are Sufficient To Darken Many Virtues.

Character Is Simply Habit Long Continued.

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

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

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

...to The Dolphin Alone, Beyond All Other, Nature Has Granted What The Best Philosophers Seek: Friendship For No Advantage

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

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

When Demaratus Was Asked Whether He Held His Tongue Because He Was A Fool Or For Want Of Words, He Replied, "a Fool Cannot Hold His Tongue.

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

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

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

Alexander Wept When He Heard From Anaxarchus That There Was An Infinite Number Of Worlds; And His Friends Asking Him If Any Accident Had Befallen Him, He Returns This Answer: "do You Not Think It A Matter Worthy Of Lamentation That When There Is Such A Vast Multitude Of Them, We Have Not Yet Conquered One?

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.

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

I See The Cure Is Not Worth The Pain.

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.

Either Is Both, And Both Is Neither.

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

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.''

What, Did You Not Know, Then, That To-day Lucullus Dines With Lucullus?

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

Lycurgus The Lacedæmonian Brought Long Hair Into Fashion Among His Countrymen, Saying That It Rendered Those That Were Handsome More Beautiful, And Those That Were Deformed More Terrible. To One That Advised Him To Set Up A Democracy In Sparta, "pray," Said Lycurgus, "do You First Set Up A Democracy In Your Own House."

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.

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.

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.

The Richest Soil, If Uncultivated, Produces The Rankest Weeds.

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

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

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

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

What We Achieve Inwardly Will Change Outer Reality.

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.

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

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

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

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 Part Of A Good Man To Do Great And Noble Deeds, Though He Risk Everything.

Nature And Wisdom Never Are At Strife.

Words Will Build No Walls.

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

There Is No Perfecter Endowment In Man Than Political Virtue.

Prosperity Has This Property, It Puffs Up Narrow Souls, Makes Them Imagine Themselves High And Mighty, And Look Down Upon The World With Contempt; But A Truly Noble And Resolved Spirit Appears Greatest In Distress, And Then Becomes More Bright And Conspicuous.

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.'

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.

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

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

Democritus Said, Words Are But The Shadows Of Actions.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Riches For The Most Part Are Hurtful To Them That Possess Them.

But The Lacedaemonians, Who Make It Their First Principle Of Action To Serve Their Country's Interest, Know Not Any Thing To Be Just Or Unjust By Any Measure But That.

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

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

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.

Beauty Is The Flower Of Virtue.

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.

We Are More Sensible Of What Is Done Against Custom Than Against Nature.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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."

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.

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.

Silence Is An Answer To A Wise Man.

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

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.

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

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

Abstruse Questions Must Have Abstruse Answers.

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.

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

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.

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.'

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

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

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.

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

There Were Two Brothers Called Both And Either; Perceiving Either Was A Good, Understanding, Busy Fellow, And Both A Silly Fellow And Good For Little, Philip Said, "either Is Both, And Both Is Neither.

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

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

As Meander Says, "for Our Mind Is God;" And As Heraclitus, "man's Genius Is A Deity."

The Whole Of Life Is But A Moment Of Time. It Is Our Duty, Therefore To Use It, Not To Misuse It.

The Pilot Cannot Mitigate The Billows Or Calm The Winds.

Poverty Is Never Dishonourable In Itself, But Only When It Is A Mark Of Sloth, Intemperance, Extravagance, Or Thoughtlessness. When, On The Other Hand, It Is The Handmaid Of A Sober, Industrious, Righteous, And Brave Man, Who Devotes All His Powers To The Service Of The People, It Is The Sign Of A Lofty Spirit That Harbours No Mean Thoughts

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

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

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.

Character Is Long-standing Habit.

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

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

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.

Of All The Disorders In The Soul, Envy Is The Only One No One Confesses To.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Painting Is Silent Poetry.

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

A Healer Of Others, Himself Diseased.

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

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.

Agesilaus Was Very Fond Of His Children; And It Is Reported That Once Toying With Them He Got Astride Upon A Reed As Upon A Horse, And Rode About The Room; And Being Seen By One Of His Friends, He Desired Him Not To Speak Of It Till He Had Children Of His Own.

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

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

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

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

Water Continually Dropping Will Wear Hard Rocks Hollow.

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

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

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

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.

It Is Easy To Utter What Has Been Kept Silent, But Impossible To Recall What Has Been Uttered.

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.

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.

Proper Listening Is The Foundation Of Proper Living.

Children Are To Be Won To Follow Liberal Studies By Exhortations And Rational Motives, And On No Account To Be Forced Thereto By Whipping.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."]

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

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.

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.

He Who Owns A Hundred Sheep Must Fight With Fifty Wolves

Philosophy Is The Art Of Living.

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

Politics Is Not Like An Ocean Voyage Or A Military Campaign... Something Which Leaves Off As Soon As Reached. It Is Not A Public Chore To Be Gotten Over With. It Is A Way Of Life.

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

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

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

Music, To Create Harmony, Must Investigate Discord.

Harmony In Music

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 Wildest Colts Make The Best Horses.

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.

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!".

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.

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.

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.

Distressed Valor Challenges Great Respect, Even From An Enemy.

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.

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.

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

Medicine To Produce Health Must Examine Disease; And Music, To Create Harmony Must Investigate Discord.

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

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

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

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

When The Candles Are Out All Women Are Fair.

To Be Ignorant Of The Lives Of The Most Celebrated Men Of Antiquity Is To Continue In A State Of Childhood All Our Days.

If I Were Not Alexander, I Would Be Diogenes.

Character Is Inured Habit.

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

Come Back With Your Shield - Or On It

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

Reason Speaks And Feeling Bites

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

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

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.

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?"

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.

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

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?

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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

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

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?

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.

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

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

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