Quote collection
392 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"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."
"Vultures are the most righteous of birds: they do not attack even the smallest living creature."
"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."
"...To the Dolphin alone, beyond all other, nature has granted what the best philosophers seek: friendship for no advantage"
"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.''"
"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."
"Neither blame or praise yourself."
"It is a high distinction for a homely woman to be loved for her character rather than for beauty."
"The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune."
"Do not speak of your happiness to one less fortunate than yourself."
"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."
"Why does pouring Oil on the Sea make it Clear and Calm? Is it that the winds, slipping the smooth oil, have no force, nor cause any waves?"
"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."
"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."
"Painting is silent poetry."
"When the strong box contains no more both friends and flatterers shun the door."
"Our senses through ignorance of Reality, falsely tell us that what appears to be, is. FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real"
"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."
"Nothing is harder to direct than a man in prosperity; nothing more easily managed that one is adversity."
"The measure of a man's life is the well spending of it, and not the length."