Familiar Quotations A Collection Of Passages Phrases And Prover
Chapter 36
This phrase, "No man is a hero to his valet," is commonly attributed to Madame de Sevigne, but on the authority of Madame Aisse (Letters, edited by Jules Ravenal, 1853) it really belongs to Madame Cornuel.
[740-5] See Heywood, page 15.
[741-1] Though this may be play to you, 'T is death to us.
ROGER L' ESTRANGE: _Fables from Several Authors. Fable 398._
[742-1] See Pope, page 325.
EPICTETUS. _Circa_ 60 A. D.
(_The translation used here is that of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, based on that of Elizabeth Carter_ (1866).)
To a reasonable creature, that alone is insupportable which is unreasonable; but everything reasonable may be supported.
_Discourses. Chap. ii._
Yet God hath not only granted these faculties, by which we may bear every event without being depressed or broken by it, but like a good prince and a true father, hath placed their exercise above restraint, compulsion, or hindrance, and wholly without our own control.
_Discourses. Chap. vi._
In a word, neither death, nor exile, nor pain, nor anything of this kind is the real cause of our doing or not doing any action, but our inward opinions and principles.
_Discourses. Chap. xi._
Reason is not measured by size or height, but by principle.
_Discourses. Chap. xii._
O slavish man! will you not bear with your own brother, who has God for his Father, as being a son from the same stock, and of the same high descent? But if you chance to be placed in some superior station, will you presently set yourself up for a tyrant?
_Discourses. Chap. xiii._
When you have shut your doors, and darkened your room, remember never to say that you are alone, for you are not alone; but God is within, and your genius is within,--and what need have they of light to see what you are doing?
_Discourses. Chap. xiv._
No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.
_Discourses. Chap. xv._
Any one thing in the creation is sufficient to demonstrate a Providence to an humble and grateful mind.
_Discourses. Chap. xvi._
Were I a nightingale, I would act the part of a nightingale; were I a swan, the part of a swan.
_Discourses. Chap. xvi._
Since it is Reason which shapes and regulates all other things, it ought not itself to be left in disorder.
_Discourses. Chap. xvii._
If what the philosophers say be true,--that all men's actions proceed from one source; that as they assent from a persuasion that a thing is so, and dissent from a persuasion that it is not, and suspend their judgment from a persuasion that it is uncertain,--so likewise they seek a thing from a persuasion that it is for their advantage.
_Discourses. Chap. xviii._
Practise yourself, for heaven's sake, in little things; and thence proceed to greater.
_Discourses. Chap. xviii._
Every art and every faculty contemplates certain things as its principal objects.
_Discourses. Chap. xx._
Why, then, do you walk as if you had swallowed a ramrod?
_Discourses. Chap. xxi._
When one maintains his proper attitude in life, he does not long after externals. What would you have, O man?
_Discourses. Chap. xxi._
Difficulties are things that show what men are.
_Discourses. Chap. xxiv._
If we are not stupid or insincere when we say that the good or ill of man lies within his own will, and that all beside is nothing to us, why are we still troubled?
_Discourses. Chap. xxv._
In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught; but in life there are many things to draw us aside.
_Discourses. Chap. xxvi._
Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things either are what they appear to be; or they neither are, nor appear to be; or they are, and do not appear to be; or they are not, and yet appear to be. Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man's task.
_Discourses. Chap. xxvii._
The appearance of things to the mind is the standard of every action to man.
_That we ought not to be angry with Mankind. Chap. xxviii._
The essence of good and evil is a certain disposition of the will.
_Of Courage. Chap. xxix._
It is not reasonings that are wanted now; for there are books stuffed full of stoical reasonings.
_Of Courage. Chap. xxix._
For what constitutes a child?--Ignorance. What constitutes a child?--Want of instruction; for they are our equals so far as their degree of knowledge permits.
_That Courage is not inconsistent with Caution. Book ii. Chap. i._
Appear to know only this,--never to fail nor fall.
_That Courage is not inconsistent with Caution. Book ii. Chap. i._
The materials of action are variable, but the use we make of them should be constant.
_How Nobleness of Mind may be consistent with Prudence. Chap. v._
Shall I show you the muscular training of a philosopher? "What muscles are those?"--A will undisappointed; evils avoided; powers daily exercised; careful resolutions; unerring decisions.
_Wherein consists the Essence of Good. Chap. viii._
Dare to look up to God and say, "Make use of me for the future as Thou wilt. I am of the same mind; I am one with Thee. I refuse nothing which seems good to Thee. Lead me whither Thou wilt. Clothe me in whatever dress Thou wilt."
_That we do not study to make Use of the established Principles concerning Good and Evil. Chap. xvi._
What is the first business of one who studies philosophy? To part with self-conceit. For it is impossible for any one to begin to learn what he thinks that he already knows.
_How to apply general Principles to particular Cases. Chap. xvii._
Every habit and faculty is preserved and increased by correspondent actions,--as the habit of walking, by walking; of running, by running.
_How the Semblances of Things are to be combated. Chap. xviii._
Whatever you would make habitual, practise it; and if you would not make a thing habitual, do not practise it, but habituate yourself to something else.
_How the Semblances of Things are to be combated. Chap. xviii._
Reckon the days in which you have not been angry. I used to be angry every day; now every other day; then every third and fourth day; and if you miss it so long as thirty days, offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.
_How the Semblances of Things are to be combated. Chap. xviii._
Be not hurried away by excitement, but say, "Semblance, wait for me a little. Let me see what you are and what you represent. Let me try you."
_How the Semblances of Things are to be combated. Chap. xviii._
Things true and evident must of necessity be recognized by those who would contradict them.
_Concerning the Epicureans. Chap. xx._
There are some things which men confess with ease, and others with difficulty.
_Of Inconsistency. Chap. xxi._
Who is there whom bright and agreeable children do not attract to play and creep and prattle with them?
_Concerning a Person whom he treated with Disregard. Chap. xxiv._
Two rules we should always have ready,--that there is nothing good or evil save in the will; and that we are not to lead events, but to follow them.
_In what Manner we ought to bear Sickness. Book iii. Chap. x._
In every affair consider what precedes and what follows, and then undertake it.[746-1]
_That Everything is to be undertaken with Circumspection. Chap. xv._
There is a fine circumstance connected with the character of a Cynic,--that he must be beaten like an ass, and yet when beaten must love those who beat him, as the father, as the brother of all.
_Of the Cynic Philosophy. Chap. xxii._
First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
_Concerning such as read and dispute ostentatiously. Chap. xxiii._
Let not another's disobedience to Nature become an ill to you; for you were not born to be depressed and unhappy with others, but to be happy with them. And if any is unhappy, remember that he is so for himself; for God made all men to enjoy felicity and peace.
_That we ought not to be affected by Things not in our own Power. Chap. xxiv._
Everything has two handles,--one by which it may be borne; another by which it cannot.
_Enchiridion. xliii._
FOOTNOTES:
[746-1] See Publius Syrus, page 712.
TACITUS. 54-119 A. D.
(_The Oxford Translation. Bohn's Classical Library._)
The images of twenty of the most illustrious families--the Manlii, the Quinctii, and other names of equal splendour--were carried before it [the bier of Junia]. Those of Brutus and Cassius were not displayed; but for that very reason they shone with pre-eminent lustre.[747-1]
_Annales. iii. 76. 11._
He had talents equal to business, and aspired no higher.[747-2]
_Annales. vi. 39, 17._
He [Tiberius] upbraided Macro, in no obscure and indirect terms, "with forsaking the setting sun and turning to the rising."[747-3]
_Annales. vi. 52_ (46).
He possessed a peculiar talent of producing effect in whatever he said or did.[747-4]
_Historiae. ii. 80._
Some might consider him as too fond of fame; for the desire of glory clings even to the best men longer than any other passion.[747-5]
_Historiae. iv. 6._
The gods looked with favour on superior courage.[747-6]
_Historiae. iv. 17._
They make solitude, which they call peace.[747-7]
_Agricola. 30._
Think of your ancestors and your posterity.[747-8]
_Agricola. 32._
It belongs to human nature to hate those you have injured.[747-9]
_Agricola. 42._
FOOTNOTES:
[747-1] Lord John Russell, alluding to an expression used by him ("Conspicuous by his absence") in his address to the electors of the city of London, said, "It is not an original expression of mine, but is taken from one of the greatest historians of antiquity."
[747-2] See Mathew Henry, page 284.
[747-3] See Plutarch, page 726.
[747-4] See Chesterfield, page 353.
[747-5] See Milton, page 247.
[747-6] See Gibbon, page 430.
[747-7] See Byron, page 550.
[747-8] See John Quincy Adams, page 458.
[747-9] See Seneca, page 714.
PLINY THE YOUNGER. 61-105 A. D.
(_Translation by William Melmoth. Bohn's Classical Library._)
Modestus said of Regulus that he was "the biggest rascal that walks upon two legs."
_Letters._[748-1] _Book i. Letter v. 14._
There is nothing to write about, you say. Well, then, write and let me know just this,--that there _is_ nothing to write about; or tell me in the good old style if you are well. That 's right. I am quite well.[748-2]
_Letters. Book i. Letter xi. 1._
Never do a thing concerning the rectitude of which you are in doubt.
_Letters. Book i. Letter xviii. 5._
The living voice is that which sways the soul.
_Letters. Book ii. Letter iii. 9._
An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit.[748-3]
_Letters. Book ii. Letter xv. 1._
He [Pliny the Elder] used to say that "no book was so bad but some good might be got out of it."[748-4]
_Letters. Book iii. Letter v. 10._
This expression of ours, "Father of a family."
_Letters. Book v. Letter xix. 2._
That indolent but agreeable condition of doing nothing.[748-5]
_Letters. Book viii. Letter ix. 3._
Objects which are usually the motives of our travels by land and by sea are often overlooked and neglected if they lie under our eye. . . . We put off from time to time going and seeing what we know we have an opportunity of seeing when we please.
_Letters. Book viii. Letter xx. 1._
His only fault is that he has no fault.[748-6]
_Letters. Book ix. Letter xxvi. 1._
FOOTNOTES:
[748-1] Book vi. Letter xvi. contains the description of the eruption of Vesuvius, A. D. 79, as witnessed by Pliny the Elder.
[748-2] This comes to inform you that I am in a perfect state of health, hoping you are in the same. Ay, that 's the old beginning.--COLMAN: _The Heir at Law, act iii. sc. 2._
[748-3] See Goldsmith, page 402.
[748-4] "There is no book so bad," said the bachelor, "but something good may be found in it."--CERVANTES: _Don Quixote, part ii. chap. iii._
[748-5] Il dolce far niente (The sweet do nothing).--_A well known Italian proverb._
[748-6] See Carlyle, page 579.
MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS. 121-180 A. D.
(_Translated by M. H. Morgan, Ph. D., of Harvard University._)
This Being of mine, whatever it really is, consists of a little flesh, a little breath, and the part which governs.
_Meditations. ii. 2._
The ways of the gods are full of providence.
_Meditations. ii. 3._
Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last.[749-1]
_Meditations. ii. 5._
Thou seest how few be the things, the which if a man has at his command his life flows gently on and is divine.
_Meditations. ii. 5._
Find time still to be learning somewhat good, and give up being desultory.
_Meditations. ii. 7._
No state sorrier than that of the man who keeps up a continual round, and pries into "the secrets of the nether world," as saith the poet, and is curious in conjecture of what is in his neighbour's heart.
_Meditations. ii. 13._
Though thou be destined to live three thousand years and as many myriads besides, yet remember that no man loseth other life than that which he liveth, nor liveth other than that which he loseth.
_Meditations. ii. 14._
For a man can lose neither the past nor the future; for how can one take from him that which is not his? So remember these two points: first, that each thing is of like form from everlasting and comes round again in its cycle, and that it signifies not whether a man shall look upon the same things for a hundred years or two hundred, or for an infinity of time; second, that the longest lived and the shortest lived man, when they come to die, lose one and the same thing.
_Meditations. ii. 14._
As for life, it is a battle and a sojourning in a strange land; but the fame that comes after is oblivion.
_Meditations. ii. 17._
Waste not the remnant of thy life in those imaginations touching other folk, whereby thou contributest not to the common weal.
_Meditations. iii. 4._
The lot assigned to every man is suited to him, and suits him to itself.[750-1]
_Meditations. iii. 4._
Be not unwilling in what thou doest, neither selfish nor unadvised nor obstinate; let not over-refinement deck out thy thought; be not wordy nor a busybody.
_Meditations. iii. 5._
A man should _be_ upright, not be _kept_ upright.
_Meditations. iii. 5._
Never esteem anything as of advantage to thee that shall make thee break thy word or lose thy self-respect.
_Meditations. iii. 7._
Respect the faculty that forms thy judgments.
_Meditations. iii. 9._
Remember that man's life lies all within this present, as 't were but a hair's-breadth of time; as for the rest, the past is gone, the future yet unseen. Short, therefore, is man's life, and narrow is the corner of the earth wherein he dwells.
_Meditations. iii. 10._
Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.
_Meditations. iii. 11._
As surgeons keep their instruments and knives always at hand for cases requiring immediate treatment, so shouldst thou have thy thoughts ready to understand things divine and human, remembering in thy every act, even the smallest, how close is the bond that unites the two.
_Meditations. iii. 13._
The ruling power within, when it is in its natural state, is so related to outer circumstances that it easily changes to accord with what can be done and what is given it to do.
_Meditations. iv. 1._
Let no act be done at haphazard, nor otherwise than according to the finished rules that govern its kind.
_Meditations. iv. 2._
By a tranquil mind I mean nothing else than a mind well ordered.
_Meditations. iv. 3._
Think on this doctrine,--that reasoning beings were created for one another's sake; that to be patient is a branch of justice, and that men sin without intending it.
_Meditations. iv. 3._
The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.
_Meditations. iv. 3._
Nothing can come out of nothing, any more than a thing can go back to nothing.
_Meditations. iv. 4._
Death, like generation, is a secret of Nature.
_Meditations. iv. 5._
That which makes the man no worse than he was makes his life no worse: it has no power to harm, without or within.
_Meditations. iv. 8._
Whatever happens at all happens as it should; thou wilt find this true, if thou shouldst watch narrowly.
_Meditations. iv. 10._
Many the lumps of frankincense on the same altar; one falls there early and another late, but it makes no difference.
_Meditations. iv. 15._
Be not as one that hath ten thousand years to live; death is nigh at hand: while thou livest, while thou hast time, be good.
_Meditations. iv. 17._
How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.
_Meditations. iv. 18._
Whatever is in any way beautiful hath its source of beauty in itself, and is complete in itself; praise forms no part of it. So it is none the worse nor the better for being praised.
_Meditations. iv. 20._
Doth perfect beauty stand in need of praise at all? Nay; no more than law, no more than truth, no more than loving kindness, nor than modesty.
_Meditations. iv. 20._
All that is harmony for thee, O Universe, is in harmony with me as well. Nothing that comes at the right time for thee is too early or too late for me. Everything is fruit to me that thy seasons bring, O Nature. All things come of thee, have their being in thee, and return to thee.
_Meditations. iv. 23._
"Let thine occupations be few," saith the sage,[752-1] "if thou wouldst lead a tranquil life."
_Meditations. iv. 24._
Love the little trade which thou hast learned, and be content therewith.
_Meditations. iv. 31._
Remember this,--that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life.
_Meditations. iv. 32._
All is ephemeral,--fame and the famous as well.
_Meditations. iv. 35._
Observe always that everything is the result of a change, and get used to thinking that there is nothing Nature loves so well as to change existing forms and to make new ones like them.
_Meditations. iv. 36._
Search men's governing principles, and consider the wise, what they shun and what they cleave to.
_Meditations. iv. 38._
Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.
_Meditations. iv. 43._
All that happens is as usual and familiar as the rose in spring and the crop in summer.
_Meditations. iv. 44._
That which comes after ever conforms to that which has gone before.
_Meditations. iv. 45._
Mark how fleeting and paltry is the estate of man,--yesterday in embryo, to-morrow a mummy or ashes. So for the hair's-breadth of time assigned to thee live rationally, and part with life cheerfully, as drops the ripe olive, extolling the season that bore it and the tree that matured it.
_Meditations. iv. 48._
Deem not life a thing of consequence. For look at the yawning void of the future, and at that other limitless space, the past.
_Meditations. iv. 50._
Always take the short cut; and that is the rational one. Therefore say and do everything according to soundest reason.
_Meditations. iv. 51._
In the morning, when thou art sluggish at rousing thee, let this thought be present; "I am rising to a man's work."
_Meditations. v. 1._
A man makes no noise over a good deed, but passes on to another as a vine to bear grapes again in season.
_Meditations. v. 6._
Flinch not, neither give up nor despair, if the achieving of every act in accordance with right principle is not always continuous with thee.
_Meditations. v. 9._
Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to bear.
_Meditations. v. 18._
Prize that which is best in the universe; and this is that which useth everything and ordereth everything.
_Meditations. v. 21._
Live with the gods.
_Meditations. v. 27._
Look beneath the surface; let not the several quality of a thing nor its worth escape thee.
_Meditations. vi. 3._
The controlling Intelligence understands its own nature, and what it does, and whereon it works.
_Meditations. vi. 5._
Do not think that what is hard for thee to master is impossible for man; but if a thing is possible and proper to man, deem it attainable by thee.
_Meditations. vi. 19._
If any man can convince me and bring home to me that I do not think or act aright, gladly will I change; for I search after truth, by which man never yet was harmed. But he is harmed who abideth on still in his deception and ignorance.
_Meditations. vi. 21._
Death,--a stopping of impressions through the senses, and of the pulling of the cords of motion, and of the ways of thought, and of service to the flesh.
_Meditations. vi. 28._
Suit thyself to the estate in which thy lot is cast.
_Meditations. vi. 39._
What is not good for the swarm is not good for the bee.
_Meditations. vi. 54._
How many, once lauded in song, are given over to the forgotten; and how many who sung their praises are clean gone long ago!
_Meditations. vii. 6._
One Universe made up of all that is; and one God in it all, and one principle of Being, and one Law, the Reason, shared by all thinking creatures, and one Truth.
_Meditations. vii. 9._
To a rational being it is the same thing to act according to nature and according to reason.
_Meditations. vii. 11._
Let not thy mind run on what thou lackest as much as on what thou hast already.
_Meditations. vii. 27._
Just as the sand-dunes, heaped one upon another, hide each the first, so in life the former deeds are quickly hidden by those that follow after.
_Meditations. vii. 34._
The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, in so far as it stands ready against the accidental and the unforeseen, and is not apt to fall.
_Meditations. vii. 61._
Remember this,--that very little is needed to make a happy life.
_Meditations. vii. 67._
Remember that to change thy mind and to follow him that sets thee right, is to be none the less the free agent that thou wast before.
_Meditations. viii. 16._
Look to the essence of a thing, whether it be a point of doctrine, of practice, or of interpretation.
_Meditations. viii. 22._
A man's happiness,--to do the things proper to man.
_Meditations. viii. 26._
Be not careless in deeds, nor confused in words, nor rambling in thought.
_Meditations. viii. 51._
He that knows not what the world is, knows not where he is himself. He that knows not for what he was made, knows not what he is nor what the world is.
_Meditations. viii. 52._
The nature of the universe is the nature of things that are. Now, things that are have kinship with things that are from the beginning. Further, this nature is styled Truth; and it is the first cause of all that is true.
_Meditations. ix. 1._
He would be the finer gentleman that should leave the world without having tasted of lying or pretence of any sort, or of wantonness or conceit.
_Meditations. ix. 2._
Think not disdainfully of death, but look on it with favour; for even death is one of the things that Nature wills.
_Meditations. ix. 3._
A wrong-doer is often a man that has left something undone, not always he that has done something.
_Meditations. ix. 5._
Blot out vain pomp; check impulse; quench appetite; keep reason under its own control.
_Meditations. ix. 7._
Things that have a common quality ever quickly seek their kind.
_Meditations. ix. 9._
All things are the same,--familiar in enterprise, momentary in endurance, coarse in substance. All things now are as they were in the day of those whom we have buried.
_Meditations. ix. 14._
The happiness and unhappiness of the rational, social animal depends not on what he feels but on what he does; just as his virtue and vice consist not in feeling but in doing.
_Meditations. ix. 16._
Everything is in a state of metamorphosis. Thou thyself art in everlasting change and in corruption to correspond; so is the whole universe.
_Meditations. ix. 19._
Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it. . . . Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle.
_Meditations. ix. 29._
He that dies in extreme old age will be reduced to the same state with him that is cut down untimely.
_Meditations. ix. 33._
Whatever may befall thee, it was preordained for thee from everlasting.
_Meditations. x. 5._
"The earth loveth the shower," and "the holy ether knoweth what love is."[756-1] The Universe, too, loves to create whatsoever is destined to be made.
_Meditations. x. 21._
Remember that what pulls the strings is the force hidden within; there lies the power to persuade, there the life,--there, if one must speak out, the real man.
_Meditations. x. 38._
No form of Nature is inferior to Art; for the arts merely imitate natural forms.
_Meditations. xi. 10._
If it is not seemly, do it not; if it is not true, speak it not.
_Meditations. xii. 17._
FOOTNOTES:
[749-1] See Publius Syrus, page 712.
A similar saying falls from his lips at another time: "Let every act and speech and purpose be framed as though this moment thou mightest take thy leave of life."
[750-1] The translator is in doubt about this passage. Commentators differ in regard to it, and the text may be corrupt.
[752-1] DEMOCRITUS _apud_ SENECAM: _De Ira, iii. 6; De Animi Tranquillitate, 13._
[756-1] Fragmenta Euripidis, apud Aristotelem, N. A. viii. 1, 6.
TERTULLIAN. 160-240 A. D.
See how these Christians love one another.
_Apologeticus. c. 39._
Blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.
_Apologeticus. c. 50._
It is certain because it is impossible.[756-2]
_De Carne Christi. c. 5._
He who flees will fight again.[756-3]
_De Fuga in Persecutione. c. 10._
FOOTNOTES:
[756-2] Certum est, quia impossibile est. This is usually misquoted, "Credo quia impossibile" (I believe it because it is impossible).
[756-3] See Butler, pages 215, 216.
DIOGENES LAERTIUS. _Circa_ 200 A. D.
(_From "The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers." Translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A., with occasional corrections. Bohn's Classical Library._)
Alcaeus mentions Aristodemus in these lines:--
'T is money makes the man; and he who 's none Is counted neither good nor honourable.
_Thales. vii._
Thales said there was no difference between life and death. "Why, then," said some one to him, "do not you die?" "Because," said he, "it _does_ make no difference."
_Thales. ix._
When Thales was asked what was difficult, he said, "To know one's self." And what was easy, "To advise another."
_Thales. ix._
He said that men ought to remember those friends who were absent as well as those who were present.
_Thales. ix._
The apophthegm "Know thyself" is his.[757-1]
_Thales. xiii._
Writers differ with respect to the apophthegms of the Seven Sages, attributing the same one to various authors.
_Thales. xiv._
Solon used to say that speech was the image of actions; . . . that laws were like cobwebs,--for that if any trifling or powerless thing fell into them, they held it fast; while if it were something weightier, it broke through them and was off.
_Solon. x._
Solon gave the following advice: "Consider your honour, as a gentleman, of more weight than an oath. Never tell a lie. Pay attention to matters of importance."
_Solon. xii._
As some say, Solon was the author of the apophthegm, "Nothing in excess."[757-2]
_Solon. xvi._
Chilo advised, "not to speak evil of the dead."[758-1]
_Chilo. ii._
Pittacus said that half was more than the whole.[758-2]
_Pittacus. ii._
Heraclitus says that Pittacus, when he had got Alcaeus into his power, released him, saying, "Forgiveness is better than revenge."[758-3]
_Pittacus. iii._
One of his sayings was, "Even the gods cannot strive against necessity."[758-4]
_Pittacus. iv._
Another was, "Watch your opportunity."
_Pittacus. vii._
Bias used to say that men ought to calculate life both as if they were fated to live a long and a short time, and that they ought to love one another as if at a future time they would come to hate one another; for that most men were bad.
_Bias. v._
Ignorance plays the chief part among men, and the multitude of words;[758-5] but opportunity will prevail.
_Cleobulus. iv._
The saying, "Practice is everything," is Periander's.[758-6]
_Periander. vi._
Anarcharsis, on learning that the sides of a ship were four fingers thick, said that "the passengers were just that distance from death."[758-7]
_Anarcharsis. v._
He used to say that it was better to have one friend of great value than many friends who were good for nothing.
_Anarcharsis. v._
It was a common saying of Myson that men ought not to investigate things from words, but words from things; for that things are not made for the sake of words, but words for things.
_Myson. iii._
Epimenides was sent by his father into the field to look for a sheep, turned out of the road at mid-day and lay down in a certain cave and fell asleep, and slept there fifty-seven years; and after that, when awake, he went on looking for the sheep, thinking that he had been taking a short nap.[759-1]
_Epimenides. ii._
There are many marvellous stories told of Pherecydes. For it is said that he was walking along the seashore at Samos, and that seeing a ship sailing by with a fair wind, he said that it would soon sink; and presently it sank before his eyes. At another time he was drinking some water which had been drawn up out of a well, and he foretold that within three days there would be an earthquake; and there was one.
_Pherecydes. ii._
Anaximander used to assert that the primary cause of all things was the Infinite,--not defining exactly whether he meant air or water or anything else.
_Anaximander. ii._
Anaxagoras said to a man who was grieving because he was dying in a foreign land, "The descent to Hades is the same from every place."
_Anaxagoras. vi._
Aristophanes turns Socrates into ridicule in his comedies, as making the worse appear the better reason.[759-2]
_Socrates. v._
Often when he was looking on at auctions he would say, "How many things there are which I do not need!"
_Socrates. x._
Socrates said, "Those who want fewest things are nearest to the gods."
_Socrates. xi._
He said that there was one only good, namely, knowledge; and one only evil, namely, ignorance.
_Socrates. xiv._
He declared that he knew nothing, except the fact of his ignorance.
_Socrates. xvi._
Being asked whether it was better to marry or not, he replied, "Whichever you do, you will repent it."
_Socrates. xvi._
He used to say that other men lived to eat, but that he ate to live.[760-1]
_Socrates. xvi._
Aristippus being asked what were the most necessary things for well-born boys to learn, said, "Those things which they will put in practice when they become men."
_Aristippus. iv._
Aristippus said that a wise man's country was the world.[760-2]
_Aristippus. xiii._
Like sending owls to Athens, as the proverb goes.
_Plato. xxxii._
Plato affirmed that the soul was immortal and clothed in many bodies successively.
_Plato. xl._
Time is the image of eternity.
_Plato. xli._
That virtue was sufficient of herself for happiness.[760-3]
_Plato. xlii._
That the gods superintend all the affairs of men, and that there are such beings as daemons.
_Plato. xlii._
There is a written and an unwritten law. The one by which we regulate our constitutions in our cities is the written law; that which arises from custom is the unwritten law.
_Plato. li._
Plato was continually saying to Xenocrates, "Sacrifice to the Graces."[760-4]
_Xenocrates. iii._
Arcesilaus had a peculiar habit while conversing of using the expression, "My opinion is," and "So and so will not agree to this."
_Arcesilaus. xii._
Bion used to say that the way to the shades below was easy; he could go there with his eyes shut.
_Bion. iii._
Once when Bion was at sea in the company of some wicked men, he fell into the hands of pirates; and when the rest said, "We are undone if we are known,"--"But I," said he, "am undone if we are not known."
_Bion. iii._
Of a rich man who was niggardly he said, "That man does not own his estate, but his estate owns him."
_Bion. iii._
Bion insisted on the principle that "The property of friends is common."[761-1]
_Bion. ix._
Very late in life, when he was studying geometry, some one said to Lacydes, "Is it then a time for you to be learning now?" "If it is not," he replied, "when will it be?"
_Lacydes. v._
Aristotle was once asked what those who tell lies gain by it. Said he, "That when they speak truth they are not believed."
_Aristotle. xi._
The question was put to him, what hope is; and his answer was, "The dream of a waking man."[761-2]
_Aristotle. xi._
He used to say that personal beauty was a better introduction than any letter;[761-3] but others say that it was Diogenes who gave this description of it, while Aristotle called beauty "the gift of God;" that Socrates called it "a short-lived tyranny;" Theophrastus, "a silent deceit;" Theocritus, "an ivory mischief;" Carneades, "a sovereignty which stood in need of no guards."
_Aristotle. xi._
On one occasion Aristotle was asked how much educated men were superior to those uneducated: "As much," said he, "as the living are to the dead."[762-1]
_Aristotle. xi._
It was a saying of his that education was an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.
_Aristotle. xi._
He was once asked what a friend is, and his answer was, "One soul abiding in two bodies."[762-2]
_Aristotle. xi._
Asked what he gained from philosophy, he answered, "To do without being commanded what others do from fear of the laws."
_Aristotle. xi._
The question was once put to him, how we ought to behave to our friends; and the answer he gave was, "As we should wish our friends to behave to us."
_Aristotle. xi._
He used to define justice as "a virtue of the soul distributing that which each person deserved."
_Aristotle. xi._
Another of his sayings was, that education was the best viaticum of old age.
_Aristotle. xi._
The chief good he has defined to be the exercise of virtue in a perfect life.
_Aristotle. xiii._
He used to teach that God is incorporeal, as Plato also asserted, and that his providence extends over all the heavenly bodies.
_Aristotle. xiii._
It was a favourite expression of Theophrastus that time was the most valuable thing that a man could spend.[762-3]
_Theophrastus. x._
Antisthenes used to say that envious people were devoured by their own disposition, just as iron is by rust.
_Antisthenes. iv._
When he was praised by some wicked men, he said, "I am sadly afraid that I must have done some wicked thing."[763-1]
_Antisthenes. iv._
When asked what learning was the most necessary, he said, "Not to unlearn what you have learned."
_Antisthenes. iv._
Diogenes would frequently praise those who were about to marry, and yet did not marry.
_Diogenes. iv._
"Bury me on my face," said Diogenes; and when he was asked why, he replied, "Because in a little while everything will be turned upside down."
_Diogenes. vi._
One of the sayings of Diogenes was that most men were within a finger's breadth of being mad; for if a man walked with his middle finger pointing out, folks would think him mad, but not so if it were his forefinger.
_Diogenes. vi._
All things are in common among friends.[763-2]
_Diogenes. vi._
"Be of good cheer," said Diogenes; "I see land."
_Diogenes. vi._
Plato having defined man to be a two-legged animal without feathers, Diogenes plucked a cock and brought it into the Academy, and said, "This is Plato's man." On which account this addition was made to the definition,--"With broad flat nails."
_Diogenes. vi._
A man once asked Diogenes what was the proper time for supper, and he made answer, "If you are a rich man, whenever you please; and if you are a poor man, whenever you can."[763-3]
_Diogenes. vi._
Diogenes lighted a candle in the daytime, and went round saying, "I am looking for a man."[763-4]
_Diogenes. vi._
When asked what he would take to let a man give him a blow on the head, he said, "A helmet."
_Diogenes. vi._
Once he saw a youth blushing, and addressed him, "Courage, my boy! that is the complexion of virtue."[764-1]
_Diogenes. vi._
When asked what wine he liked to drink, he replied, "That which belongs to another."
_Diogenes. vi._
Asked from what country he came, he replied, "I am a citizen of the world."[764-2]
_Diogenes. vi._
When a man reproached him for going into unclean places, he said, "The sun too penetrates into privies, but is not polluted by them."[764-3]
_Diogenes. vi._
Diogenes said once to a person who was showing him a dial, "It is a very useful thing to save a man from being too late for supper."
_Menedemus. iii._
When Zeno was asked what a friend was, he replied, "Another I."[764-4]
_Zeno. xix._
They say that the first inclination which an animal has is to protect itself.
_Zeno. lii._
One ought to seek out virtue for its own sake, without being influenced by fear or hope, or by any external influence. Moreover, that in _that_ does happiness consist.[764-5]
_Zeno. liii._
The Stoics also teach that God is unity, and that he is called Mind and Fate and Jupiter, and by many other names besides.
_Zeno. lxviii._
They also say that God is an animal immortal, rational, perfect, and intellectual in his happiness, unsusceptible of any kind of evil, having a foreknowledge of the universe and of all that is in the universe; however, that he has not the figure of a man; and that he is the creator of the universe, and as it were the Father of all things in common, and that a portion of him pervades everything.
_Zeno. lxxii._
But Chrysippus, Posidonius, Zeno, and Boethus say, that all things are produced by fate. And fate is a connected cause of existing things, or the reason according to which the world is regulated.
_Zeno. lxxiv._
Apollodorus says, "If any one were to take away from the books of Chrysippus all the passages which he quotes from other authors, his paper would be left empty."
_Chrysippus. iii._
One of the sophisms of Chrysippus was, "If you have not lost a thing, you have it."
_Chrysippus. xi._
Pythagoras used to say that he had received as a gift from Mercury the perpetual transmigration of his soul, so that it was constantly transmigrating and passing into all sorts of plants or animals.
_Pythagoras. iv._
He calls drunkenness an expression identical with ruin.[765-1]
_Pythagoras. vi._
Among what he called his precepts were such as these: Do not stir the fire with a sword. Do not sit down on a bushel. Do not devour thy heart.[765-2]
_Pythagoras. xvii._
In the time of Pythagoras that proverbial phrase "Ipse dixit"[765-3] was introduced into ordinary life.
_Pythagoras. xxv._
Xenophanes was the first person who asserted . . . that the soul is a spirit.
_Xenophanes. iii._
It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.
_Xenophanes. iii._
Protagoras asserted that there were two sides to every question, exactly opposite to each other.
_Protagoras. iii._
Nothing can be produced out of nothing.[766-1]
_Diogenes of Apollonia. ii._
Xenophanes speaks thus:--
And no man knows distinctly anything, And no man ever will.
_Pyrrho. viii._
Democritus says, "But we know nothing really; for truth lies deep down."
_Pyrrho. viii._
Euripides says,--
Who knows but that this life is really death, And whether death is not what men call life?
_Pyrrho. viii._
The mountains, too, at a distance appear airy masses and smooth, but seen near at hand, they are rough.[766-2]
_Pyrrho. ix._
If appearances are deceitful, then they do not deserve any confidence when they assert what appears to them to be true.
_Pyrrho. xi._
The chief good is the suspension of the judgment, which tranquillity of mind follows like its shadow.
_Pyrrho. xi._
Epicurus laid down the doctrine that pleasure was the chief good.
_Epicurus. vi._
He alludes to the appearance of a face in the orb of the moon.
_Epicurus. xxv._
Fortune is unstable, while our will is free.
_Epicurus. xxvii._
FOOTNOTES:
[757-1] See Pope, page 317. Also Plutarch, page 736.
[757-2] Meden agan, _nequid nimis_.
[758-1] De mortuis nil nisi bonum (Of the dead be nothing said but what is good.)--_Of unknown authorship._
[758-2] See Hesiod, page 693.
[758-3] Quoted by Epictetus (Fragment lxii.), "Forgiveness is better than punishment; for the one is the proof of a gentle, the other of a savage nature."
[758-4] See Shakespeare, page 115.
[758-5] In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin.--_Proverbs x. 19._
[758-6] See Publius Syrus, page 710.
[758-7] "How thick do you judge the planks of our ship to be?" "Some two good inches and upward," returned the pilot. "It seems, then, we are within two fingers' breadth of damnation."--RABELAIS: _book iv. chap. xxiii._
[759-1] The story of Rip Van Winkle.
[759-2] See Milton, page 226.
[760-1] See Plutarch, page 738.
[760-2] See Garrison, page 605.
[760-3] See Walton, page 207.
In that [virtue] does happiness consist.--ZENO (page 764).
[760-4] See Chesterfield, page 353.
[761-1] All things are in common among friends.--DIOGENES (page 763).
[761-2] See Prior, page 288.
[761-3] See Publius Syrus, page 709.
[762-1] Quoted with great warmth by Dr. Johnson (Boswell).--LANGTON: _Collectanea._
[762-2] See Pope, page 340.
[762-3] See Franklin, page 361.
[763-1] See Plutarch, page 733.
[763-2] See Terence, page 705. Also, page 761.
[763-3] The rich when he is hungry, the poor when he has anything to eat.--RABELAIS: _book iv. chap. lxiv._
[763-4] The same is told of AEsop.
[764-1] See Mathew Henry, page 283.
[764-2] See Garrison, page 605.
[764-3] See Bacon, page 169.
[764-4] See page 762.
[764-5] See page 760.
[765-1] See Hall, page 457.
[765-2] See Spenser, page 30.
[765-3] Autos epha (The master said so).
[766-1] See Shakespeare, page 146.
[766-2] See Campbell, page 512.
ATHENAEUS. _Circa_ 200 A. D.
(_Translation by C. D. Yonge, B. A._)
It was a saying of Demetrius Phalereus, that "Men having often abandoned what was visible for the sake of what was uncertain, have not got what they expected, and have lost what they had,--being unfortunate by an enigmatical sort of calamity."[766-3]
_The Deipnosophists. vi. 23._
Every investigation which is guided by principles of Nature fixes its ultimate aim entirely on gratifying the stomach.[767-1]
_The Deipnosophists. vii. 11._
Dorion, ridiculing the description of a tempest in the "Nautilus" of Timotheus, said that he had seen a more formidable storm in a boiling saucepan.[767-2]
_The Deipnosophists. viii. 19._
On one occasion some one put a very little wine into a wine-cooler, and said that it was sixteen years old. "It is very small for its age," said Gnathaena.
_The Deipnosophists. xiii. 47._
Goodness does not consist in greatness, but greatness in goodness.[767-3]
_The Deipnosophists. xiv. 46._
FOOTNOTES:
[766-3] Said with reference to mining operations.
[767-1] See Johnson, page 371.
[767-2] Tempest in a teapot.--_Proverb._
[767-3] See Chapman, page 37.
SAINT AUGUSTINE. 354-430.
When I am here, I do not fast on Saturday; when at Rome, I do fast on Saturday.[767-4]
_Epistle 36. To Casulanus._
The spiritual virtue of a sacrament is like light,--although it passes among the impure, it is not polluted.[767-5]
_Works. Vol. iii. In Johannis Evangelum, c. tr. 5, Sect. 15._
FOOTNOTES:
[767-4] See Burton, page 193.
[767-5] See Bacon, page 169.
ALI BEN ABI TALEB.[767-6] ---- -660.
Believe me, a thousand friends suffice thee not; In a single enemy thou hast more than enough.[767-7]
FOOTNOTES:
[767-6] Ali Ben Abi Taleb, son-in-law of Mahomet, and fourth caliph, who was for his courage called "The Lion of God," was murdered A. D. 660. He was the author of a "Hundred Sayings."
[767-7] Translated by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and wrongly called by him a translation from Omar Khayyam.
Found in Dr. Hermann Tolowiez's "Polyglotte der Orientalischen Poesie."
Translated by James Russell Lowell thus:--
He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.
OMAR KHAYYAM. ---- -1123.
(_Translated by Edward Fitzgerald._)
I sometimes think that never blows so red The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled; That every Hyacinth the Garden wears Dropt in her Lap from some once lovely Head.
_Rubaiyat. Stanza xix._
A Moment's Halt--a momentary taste Of BEING from the Well amid the Waste-- And, Lo! the phantom Caravan has reach'd The NOTHING it set out from. Oh, make haste!
_Rubaiyat. Stanza xlviii._
Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire, And Hell the Shadow of a Soul on fire.
_Rubaiyat. Stanza lxvii._
The Moving Finger writes; and having writ, Moves on; nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.
_Rubaiyat. Stanza lxxi._
And this I know: whether the one True Light Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite, One Flash of It within the Tavern caught Better than in the Temple lost outright.
_Rubaiyat. Stanza lxxvii._
And when like her, O Saki, you shall pass Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass, And in your blissful errand reach the spot Where I made One--turn down an empty Glass.
_Rubaiyat. Stanza ci._
ALPHONSO THE WISE. 1221-1284.
Had I been present at the creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe.[768-1]
FOOTNOTES:
[768-1] Carlyle says, in his "History of Frederick the Great,"