All Quotes

433 quotes in total

“Equidem ad pacem hortari non desino; quae vel iniusta utilior est quam iustissimum bellum cum civibus. As for me, I cease not to advocate peace. It may be on unjust terms, but even so it is more expedient than the justest of civil wars. Epistulae ad Atticum (Letters to Atticus) Book VII, Letter 14, section 3; as translated by E.O. Winstedt in the Loeb Classical Library”

“Quidem concessum est rhetoribus ementiri in historiis ut aliquid dicere possint argutius. Indeed rhetoricians are permitted to lie about historical matters so they can speak more subtly. Brutus , 42”

“Etenim, iudices, cum omnibus virtutibus me adfectum esse cupio, tum nihil est quod malim quam me et esse gratum et videri. Haec enim est una virtus non solum maxima sed etiam mater virtutum omnium reliquarum. In truth, O judges, while I wish to be adorned with every virtue, yet there is nothing which I can esteem more highly than being and appearing grateful. For this one virtue is not only the greatest, but is also the parent of all the other virtues. Pro Plancio”

“A grateful mind is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the other virtues. As quoted in Great Thoughts from Latin Authors (1884), by Craufurd Tait Ramage, p. 32”

“He that in his studies wholly applies himself to labour and exercise, and neglects meditation, loses his time, and he that only applies himself to meditation, and neglects labour and exercise, only wanders and loses himself. The Morals of Confucius , 2nd edition (London, 1724), Maxim X, p. 114”

“Men do not stumble over mountains , but over molehills Reported in United States Congress House Committee on Agriculture (1973) Hearings Before the Committee on Agriculture, House of Representatives, Ninety”

“Man has three ways of acting wisely. First, on meditation; that is the noblest. Secondly, on imitation ; that is the easiest. Thirdly, on experience ; that is the bitterest. The Analects , as reported in Chambers Dictionary of Quotations (1997), p. 279”

“It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them. Reportedly in: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Mistrust, Conspiracy, and Lack of Internet Ethics (1980) Hearings Before the Committee on Agriculture, House of Representatives, Ninety”

“The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large. Attributed to Confucius in Out of the Blue: Delight Comes Into Our Lives (1996) by Mark Victor Hansen, Barbara Nichols, and Patty Hansen, p. 93”

“學而時習之、不亦說乎。有朋自遠方來、不亦樂乎。人不知而不慍、不亦君子乎。 Isn't it a pleasure to study and practice what you have learned? Isn't it also great when friends visit from distant places? If one remains not annoyed when he is not understood by people around him, isn't he a sage?”

“δοκεῖ δὲ αὐτῶι τάδε· ἀρχὰς εἶναι τῶν ὅλων ἀτόμους καὶ κενόν, τὰ δ'ἀλλα πάντα νενομίσθαι [δοξάζεσθαι]. ( Diogenes Laërtius , Democritus , Vol. IX, 44) Now his principal doctrines were these. That atoms and the vacuum were the beginning of the universe; and that everything else existed only in opinion.”

“νόμωι (γάρ φησι) γλυκὺ καὶ νόμωι πικρόν, νόμωι θερμόν, νόμωι ψυχρόν, νόμωι χροιή, ἐτεῆι δὲ ἄτομα καὶ κενόν (Tetralogies of Thrasyllus, 9; Sext. Emp. adv. math. VII 135) Sweet exists by convention, bitter by convention, colour by convention; atoms and Void [alone] exist in reality. (trans. Freeman 1948), p. 92.”

“By convention sweet is sweet, bitter is bitter, hot is hot, cold is cold, color is color; but in truth there are only atoms and the void. (trans. Durant 1939), Ch. XVI, §II, p. 353; citing C. Bakewell, Sourcebook in Ancient Philosophy , New York, 1909, "Fragment O" (Diels), p. 60”

“We know nothing accurately in reality, but [only] as it changes according to the bodily condition, and the constitution of those things that flow upon [the body] and impinge upon it. Freeman (1948), p. 142”