Rufinus
Let us bathe, Prodice, and garland ourselves, and drain unmixed wine, lifting larger cups; little is our life of gladness, then old age will stop the rest, and death is the end.
The Men at Salamis
Freedom - freedom for country, children, wives. Freedom for worship, for our father's graves.
Sappho
Some say that the fairest thing upon the dark earth is a host of calvary, others of infantry, and others again a fleet of ships, but I say it is whatever one loves best. It is easy to make anyone understand this.
May you sleep upon the breast of a tender friend.
Someone, I say, will remember us.
What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful.
Semonides of Amorgos
No better thing befalls a man than a good wife, no worse thing than a bad one.
Seneca
Philosophy's sole function is to discover the truth about things divine and things human. From her side religion never departs, nor piety, nor justice, nor any of the whole company of virtues which cling together in close united fellowship.
It is a great man who can treat his earthenware as if it was silver, and a man who treats his silver as if it was earthenware is no less great. Finding wealth an intolerable burden is the mark of an unstable mind.
For man is a rational animal. Man's ideal state is realized when he has fulfilled the purpose for which he was born. And what is it that reason demands of him? Something very easy - that he live in accordance with his own nature.
What fools these mortals be.
Live among men as if God beheld you: speak to God as if men were listening.
The best ideas are common property.
You can tell the character of a man by how he receives praise.
It is a rough road to greatness.
Fire is the test of gold: adversity of strong men.
The difference here between the Epicurean and our own school is this: our wise man feels his troubles but overcomes them, while their wise man does not even feel them.
If you have ever come on a dense wood of ancient trees that have risen to an exceptional height, shutting out all sight of the sky with one thick screen of branches upon another, the loftiness of the forest, the seclusion of the spot, your sense of wonderment at finding so deep and unbroken a gloom out of doors, will persuade you of the presence of a deity. Any cave in which the rocks have been eroded deep into the mountain resting on it, its hollowing out into a cavern of impressive extent not produced by the labours of men but the result of the processes of nature, will strike into your soul some kind of inkling of the divine. We venerate the source of important streams; places where a mighty river bursts suddenly from hiding are provided with altars; hot springs are objects of worship; the darkness or unfathomable depth of pools has made their waters sacred.
A man is as unhappy as he has convinced himself to be.
At our birth, nature made us teachable, and gave us reason, not perfect, but capable of being perfected.
Sextus
Consider lost all the time in which you do not think of divinity.
The soul is illuminated by the recollection of God.
The use of animal food is indifferent, but it is more rational to abstain from it.
He best honors God who makes his intellect as like God as possible.
Simonides
Here against three million once fought
Four thousand from the Peloponnese.
Stranger, tell the Spartans that here
We lie, obeying their orders.
These men gave their beloved country inextinguishable fame
And encompassed themselves with the dark cloud of death.
They died but are not dead, since their valour glorifies them from above
And brings them up from the house of Hades.
Being mortal, never say what tomorrow will bring, nor seing a man blest how long he will be, for change is as swift as the turn of a dragonfly's wing.
No one without the Gods acquires excellence, neither city or a mortal man.
Among men, nothing without toil.
The story is that valor dwells upon inaccessible rocks ... and haunts a holy place. Nor do mortal eyes behold her, unless sweat that eats the soul comes from within and a man reaches the very peak of bravery.
Painting is silent poetry, and poetry painting that speaks.
Socrates
Let him that would move the world, first move himself.
Having the fewest wants, I am nearest to the Gods.
An unjust act always dishonors the perpetrator. We must cause no injury. Neither must we return injury for injury, as many people believe is right. We must injure no one at all. We must not retaliate or return evil for evil, whatever evil we have suffered ourselves.
The unexamined life is not worth living
Human nature has no better helper than love.
There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.
Wisdom begins in wonder.
I am a citizen, not of Athens or Greece, but of the world.
I know I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.
Don't be embarrassed to become better at the end of your life than you were to begin with.
Just as it is by physicians that the sick are purged and restored, so it is by laws that the unjust are reformed.
If he who knows not would simply remain silent, disputation would stop.
Seeing a woman all dressed up for a trip to the city, Socrates remarked, "I suspect that your trip is not to see the city, but for the city to see you.
The greatest dominion is that man overcomes his passions.
I never sorrow because I never acquire anything whose loss would sadden me.
The most beneficial thing a person can acquire is a friend who gives sincere advice.
The most contemptable person is he who trusts no one, and is trusted by no one.
Once, Socrates was at a reception where the slave was slow with the food. A man said to the host, "You should punish him as severely as you can." But Socrates said, "No. Forgive him his mistakes, for to improve yourself at the cost of spoiling your slave is better than correcting your slave at the cost of corrupting yourself."
It is desireable that thought should rule before an act, during the act, and after the act: before the act, so that it will not be mean and hurtful; during the act, so that it does not cause a nuissance; and after the act, so that it may be followed up and it may be known what it has led to, and its beginning may be asserted by its end.
Don't be afraid of death, for the bitterness of it lies in the fear of it.
The most gratifying things in the world are culture, education, and seeing what one has not seen before.
Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius; will you remember to pay the debt? (Socrates' last words)
Solon
I grow older ever learning many things.
Call no many happy before he dies, he is at best fortunate.
Poets tell many lies.
Let us sacrifice to the Muses.
The precepts:
Trust good character more than promises.
Do not speak falsely.
Do good things.
Do not be hasty in making friends, but do not abandon them once made.
Learn to obey before you command.
When giving advice, do not recommend what is most pleasing but what is most useful.
Make reason your supreme commander.
Do not associate with people who do bad things.
Honor the Gods.
Have regard for your parents
Sophocles
There are many wonderful things in the world, and nothing more wonderful than man.
In the Gods have I put my trust - I will not fear.
Think not that thy word and thine alone must be right.
Children are the anchors that hold a mother to life.
Silence gives the proper grace to women.
Nobly to live, or else nobly to die, befits proud birth.
Men of ill judgement often ignore the good that lies in their hands till they have lost it.
How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there's no help in truth.
The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves.
For God hates utterly the bray of bragging tongues.
Our ship of State, which recent storms have threatened to destroy, has come safely into harbor.
I have nothing but contempt for the kind of governor who is afraid, for whatever reason, to follow the course that he knows is best for the State; and as for the man who sets private friendships above public welfare - I have no use for him either.
Nobody likes the man who brings bad news.
How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong.
All that is, and shall be, and the past - belongs to Zeus.
Reason is God's crowning gift to man.
The ideal condition would be, I admit, that man should be right by instinct; but since we all are likely to go astray, the reasonable thing is to learn from those who can teach.
Wisdom outweighs any wealth.
There is no happiness where there is no wisdom; no wisdom but in submission to the Gods.
The immortal Gods alone have neither age nor death! All other things almighty time disquiets.
The truth is always the strongest argument.
The good man is his own friend.
The pleasantest laughter is at the expense of enemies.
It is the brave man's part to live with glory, or with glory die.
The Spartans
If Alexander likes to call himself a God, we have no objection.
The Spartan Mothers
To their sons, going off to war: with your shields, or on them.
Stesichoros
Forget the wars with me and sing, for the very Gods delight in our feasts, in love, and listening.
Apollo loves the musicians' merrymakings and song. Hades got as his lot lamentings and grief.
Strato
Drink now and love, Damocrates, since not for ever shall we drink nor for ever hold fast our delight; let us crown our heads with garlands and perfume ourselves, before others bring these offerings to our graves.
Symacchus What matters the path by which one seeks the truth? One road alone does not suffice to attain so great a mystery!
Publius Syrius
As men, we are all equal before death.
He doubly benefits the needy who gives early.
To do two things at once is to do neither well.
Many receive advice: few profit by it.
Whatever you can lose you should reckon of no account.
What is left when honor is lost?
Anyone can hold the helm while the sea is calm.
No pleasure endures unseasoned by variety.
Necessity knows no law except to prevail.
Copyright 2002 Sannion
All Rights Reserved
Posted with permission
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