FinShaggy (OP)
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September 23, 2013, 01:01:24 AM |
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Also, I am thinking about starting with a smaller Philosophy book, picking some philosophy out of the history book, here's what I've got so far 11,000 words, about 30 pages. All ancient philosophy. I have WAY more to write, and I need to find people who want to write some more modern philosophy.
Here's what I've got so far:
In the early 1800's, on the west bank of the Nile river, in a tomb located at the Valley of Kings, a papyrus was found. 18 pages of near perfect text, closest to the Mdw Ntr (Heiroglyphics) dialect. The papyrus contained 2 separate works, one was incomplete and written to someone named “Kagame”. Most of that section has been lost, or destroyed, the other section contained the complete works of Ptahhotep (14 pages). 2 other works of Ptahhotep have been found, as well as a tomb for him near the step pyramid at Sakkara. We are not certain that this is him, but it has been suggested that both Ptahhoteps are the same (tomb and writer).
The writing says that the author (Ptahhotep) lived during the reign of Menkauhor (2396 BC-2388 BC) and Assa Djed-Ka-Ra (2388 BC-2356 BC) and also said that Ptahhotep was the “favored one” of Assa. He was Assa's grand uncle, and tutor. Ptahhotep was also said to be the eldest legitimate son of an unnamed Pharaoh, and claimed to be 110 years old at the time his book was written. Ptahhotep was supposed to be Pharaoh, but gave up the chance in order to live a less secular, more divine life as more of a priest/philosopher.
By 3100 BC Kmt (Called Aegyptos or “Egypt” by the Greeks) had become a nation state, and remnants of their older societies lay to the south. Mdw Ntr, translates into “The Nectar of God”, and were thousands of years later called by the Greeks “Heiroglyphics”. The strange thing about Heiroglyphics is that there is no developmental period. They simply appear, fully developed around the Nile, which suggests that it existed elsewhere previously.
The writings we have from Ptahhotep were not the actual copy written by him, it is a copy from the Middle Kingdom, but there is ample evidence pointing to the existence of the exact person that exists in the writing.
Here are his writings (remember, he did this in Hieroglyphics):
God upon two Crocodiles, My God, the process of aging brings senility. My mind decays and forgetfulness of the things of yesterday has already begun. Feebleness has come, and weakness grows. Child like, one sleeps all day, the eyes are dim and the ears are becoming deaf. The strength is being sapped. The mouth has grown silent, and does not speak. The bones ache through and through. Good things now seem evil. The taste has gone. What old age does to people in evil is everything. The nose is clogged and does not breathe. It is painful even to stand or sit. May your servant be authorized to use the status that old age affords, to teach the hearers, so as to tell them the word of those who have listened to the ways of our ancestors, and those who have listened to the gods. May I do this for you, so that strife may be banned from among our people, and so that two shores may serve you?
1. Do not be proud and arrogant with your knowledge. Consult and converse with the ignorant and the wise, for the limits are not reached. No artist ever possesses that perfection to which he should aspire. Good speech is more hidden than Emeralds, yet it may be found among the maids at the grindstones.
2. If you meet a disputant in the heat of action, one who is more powerful than you, simply fold your arms and bend your back (bow?). To confront him will not make him agree with you. Pay no attention to his evil speech. If you do not confront him while he is raging, people will call him ignorant. Your self control will be the match for his evil utterances.
3. If you meet a disputant in the heat of action, one who is your equal, one who is on your level, you will overcome him by being silent when he is speaking evilly. There will be much talk among those who hear and your name will be held in high regard among the great.
4. If you meet a disputant in the heat of action who is a poor man, and who is not your equal, do not attack him because he is weak. Leave him alone, he will confound himself. Do not answer him just so that you can relieve your own heart. Do not vent yourself against your opponent. Wretched is he who injures a poor man.
5. If you are a man who leads, a man who controls the affairs of many, then seek the most perfect way of preforming responsibilities, so that no blame falls on you. Great is Ma'at. It is everlasting. Ma'at has been unchanged since the time of Assar. To create obstacles to the following of Ma'at, is to open a way to a condition of violence. Baseness may obtain riches, yet crime never lands its wares on the shore. In the end, only Ma'at lasts.
6. Do not scheme against people. Ma'at will punish accordingly; If a man says, “I shall live by scheming” he will lack bread for his mouth. If a man says, “I will be rich” he will have to say “My cleverness has trapped me”. I he says, “I will trap for myself” he will not be able to say, “I trapped for my profit”. If a man says “I will rob someone”, he will end by being given to a stranger. People's schemes do not prevail. Ma'at is what prevails. Therefor, live in the midst of peace. What god gives comes by itself.
7. If you are one among guests at the table of a person who is more powerful than you, take what that person gives, just as it is set before you. Look at what is set before you. Don't stare at your host. Don't speak to him until he asks. One does not know what may displease him. Speak when he has spoken to you. Then your words will please the heart. The man who has plenty of the means of existence acts as his Ka commands. He will give food to those who he favors. It is the Ka that makes his hand stretch out. The great man gives to the chosen man, thus eating is under the direction of Ma'at. It is a fool who complains about it.
8. If you are a person of trust, sent from one great person to another great person, be careful to stick to the essence of the message that you were asked to transmit. Give the message exactly as he gave it to you. Guard against provocative speech which makes one great person angry with another. Just keep to the truth. Do not exceed it. However, even though there may have been an out-burst in the message, you should not repeat it. Do not malign anyone, big or small, the Ka abhors it.
9. If you plow and if there is growth in your field and Ma'at lets it prosper in your hands, don't boast to your neighbor. One has great respect for the silent person. A person of character is a person of wealth. If that person robs, he or she is like a crocodile in the middle of the waters. If Ma'at gives you children, do not impose on one who has no children. Neither should you brag or decry about having your own children, for there is many a father who has grief for a mother with children that is less content than another. It is the lonely who Ma'at nurtures, while the family man prays for a follower.
10. If you are poor, then serve a person of worth so that your conduct will be in line with Ma'at. Do not bring up the fact that he once was poor. Do not be arrogant towards him just because you know about his former state. Respect him now for his position of authority. As for fortune, it obeys its own law and that is her will. It is Ma'at that makes him worthy, and keeps him safe while he sleeps, or who can turn away from him.
11. Follow your heart (Ma'at) as long as you live. Do no more than is required of you. Do not shorten the time of 'follow the heart' for that offends the Ka. Don't waste time on daily cares over and beyond providing for your household. When wealth finally comes, then follow your heart. Wealth does no good if you are glum.
12. If you are a wise man, train up a son that will follow the Ma'at. If he is good and takes up after you, take good care of him. Do everything that is good for him. But an offspring can make trouble. If your son strays and neglects good council, and disobeys all that is said, with his mouth or spouting evil speech, then punish him.
13. If you are a guard in the store house, stand or sit rather than leave your post and trespass into someone else's place. Follow this rule from the start. Never leave your post, even when tired. Only Ma'at can penetrate the secure storehouse where the rules are followed, even by those of privilege.
14. If you are among the people, then gain your supporters by building trust. A trusted man is the one who does not speak the first thing that comes to mind; and he will become a leader. A man of means has a good name, and his face is benign. People will praise him, even without his knowledge. On the other hand, he whose heart obeys his belly, asks for contempt of himself in the place of love. His heart is naked. His body unannointed. The great hearted are Ma'at. He who is ruled by his appetite, is fed by his enemy.
15. Report the thing that you were commissioned to report without error. Give your advice in the high council. If you are fluent in your speech, it will not be hard for you to report. Nor will anyone say of you “who is he to know this?”. As to the authorities, their affairs will fail if they punish you for speaking truth. They should be silent upon hearing the report that you have rendered as you have been told. If you are a man who leads, a man whose authority reaches widely, then you should do perfect things (follow Ma'at), those which posterity will remember. Don't listen to the words of flatterers or to words that puff you up with pride and vanity.
(I need to get another book that has 16)
17. If you are a person who judges, listen carefully to the speech of one who pleads. Don't stop the person from telling you everything that they had planned to tell you. A person in distress wants to pour out his heart, even more than they want their case to be won. If you are one who stops a person who is pleading, that person will say “Why does he reject my plea?”. Of course not all that one pleads for can be granted, but a good hearing soothes the heart. The means for getting a true and clear explanation is to listen with kindness.
18. If you want friendship to endure in the house that you enter, the house of a master, of a brother or of a friend, then in whatever place you enter beware of approaching the women there. Unhappy is the place where this is done. unwelcome is he who intrudes on them. A thousand men are turned away from their good because of a short moment that is like a dream, and then that moment is followed by death that comes from having known that dream. Anyone who encourages you to take advantage of the situation gives you poor advice. When you go to do it, your heart says no. If you are one who fails through the lust of women, then no affair of yours can prosper.
19. If you want to have follow Ma'at, to be free from every evil, then above all guard against the vice of greed. Greed is a grievous sickness that has no cure. There is no treatment for it. It embroils fathers, mothers and the brothers of the mother. It parts the wife from the husband. Greed is a compound of all the evils. It is a bundle of all hateful things. That person endures whose rule is righteous, who walks a straight line, for that person will leave a legacy by such behavior. On the other hand, the greedy has no tomb.
20. Do not be greedy in the division of things. Do not covet more than your share. Don't be greedy towards your relatives. A mild person has greater claim than the harsh one. Poor is the person who forgets his relatives. He is deprived of their company. Even a little bit of what is wanted will turn a quarreler into a friendly person.
21. When you prosper and establish your home, love your wife passionately. Then fill her belly and clothe her back. Caress her. Give her ointments to soothe her body. Fulfill her wishes as long as you live. She is a fertile field for her husband. Do not be brutal. Ma'at will influence her better than force. Do not contend with her in the courts. Keep her from the need to resort to outside powers. Her eye is her storm when she gazes. It is by such treatment that she will be compelled to stay in your house.
22. Help your friends with things that you have, for you have these things by the grace of Ma'at. If you fail to help your friends, one will say you have a selfish Ka. One plans for tomorrow, but you do not know what tomorrow will bring. The right soul is the soul by which one is sustained. If you do praiseworthy things, your friends will say “Welcome” in your time of need. Do not repeat slander, nor should you even listen to it. It is the spouting of the hot bellied. Just report a thing that has been observed, not something that has been heard second hand. If it is negligible, don't even say anything. He who is standing before you will recognize your worth. Slander is like a terrible dream against one covers the face.
(I need to get a book that has 23)
24. If you are a man of worth who sits at the council of a leader, concentrate on following ma'at. Your silence is much better than boasting. Speak when you know that you have a solution. It is the skilled person who should speak when in council. Speaking is harder than all other work. The one who understands this, makes speech a servant.
25. If you are mighty and powerful, then gain respect through knowledge and through your gentleness of speech. Don't order things except as it is fitting. The one who provokes others to get into trouble. Don't be haughty, lest you be humbled. But also don't be mute lest you be chided. When you answer one who is fuming, turn your face and control yourself. The flame of the hot hearted sweeps across everything. But he who steps gently, his path is a paved road. He who is agitated all day has no happy moments, but he who amuses himself all day can't keep his fortune.
26. Do not disturb a great man or distract his attention when he is occupied, trying to understand his task. When he is thus occupied, he strips his body through the love of what he does. Love for the work which they do bring men closer to Ma'at. These are the people who succeed in what they do.
27. Teach the great what is useful to them. Be an aide to the great before the people. If you let your knowledge impress your leader, your sustenance from him will then come from his soul. As his favorite's belly is filled, so will your back be clothed and his help will be there to sustain you. For your leader whom you love and who lives by useful knowledge, he in turn will give you good support. Thus will the love of you endure in his belly. He is a soul who loves to listen.
28. If you are an official of high standing, and you are commissioned to satisfy the many, then to hold in line with Ma'at, when you speak do not lean to one side or the other. Beware, lest someone complain, saying to the judges, “he has distorted things”, and then your very deeds will turn into judgement of you.
29. If you are angered by a misdeed, then lean toward a man on account of his rightness. Pass over the misdeed and don't remember it, since Ma'at was silent to you on the first day of your misdeed.
30. If you are great after having been humble, if you have gained you wealth after having been poor, and then you go to a town that you know and that knows your former condition, don't put your trust in your newly acquired wealth which has come to you through Ma'at. If you do, one day someone who is poor may very well overtake you.
31. Accept the authority of your leaders, then your house will endure in its wealth. Your rewards will come from the right place. Wretched is he who opposes his leader. One lives as long as he is mild. Baring your arm does not hurt it. Do not plunder your neighbor's house or steal the goods of one that is near you, least he denounce you before you are even heard. One who is argumentative is a mildless person. If he is also known as an aggressor, then that hostile man will have trouble in the neighborhood.
32. Be circumspect in matters of sexual relation.
33. If you examine the character of a friend, don't ask other people, approach your friend. Deal with him alone, so as not to suffer from his anger. You may argue with him after a little while. You may test his heart in conversation. If what he has seen escapes him, if he does something that annoys you, stay friendly with him and do not attack. Be restrained and don't answer him with hostility. Do not leave him and do not attack him. His time will not fail to come. He cannot escape his fate.
34. Be generous as long as you live. What leaves the storehouse does not return. It is the food in the storehouse that one must share that is coveted. One whose belly is empty becomes an accuser. One who is deprived becomes an opponent. Therefore, do not have an accuser or an opponent as a neighbor. Your kindness to your neighbors will be a memorial to you for years after you satisfy their needs.
35. Know your friends and then you prosper. Don't be mean towards your friends. They are like a watered field and greater than any material riches that you may have, for what belongs to one belongs to another. The character of one who is well born should be a profit to him. Good nature is a memorial.
36. Punish firmly and chastise soundly, then repression of crime becomes an example. But punishment except for crime will turn the complainer into an enemy.
37. If you take for a wife a good time woman who is joyful and who is well known in the town, if she is fickle and seems to live for the moment, do not reject her. Let her ear. The joyful person brings happiness
......
Random Philosophical Quotes for Guidance:
“Men's ambition and their desire to make money, are among the most frequent causes of deliberate injustices” - Aristotle (This one is pretty clear… Money is the Root of all Evil)
“Slight not at what is near, through aiming at what is far” - Euripedes (This means, don't sweat the small stuff, make big goals and the small stuff won't seem so big)
“Shoals of corpses shall witness mute, even to generations to come, before the eyes of men that we ought never, being mortal, to caste our sights to high” - Aeschylus (I have not read the piece this is from, so I am only using what is available to figure this out, but I think this one is saying that we are all going to die, so try to make goals that you feel like you can achieve… Because if you set your goals too high, then there will be war that continues on past your life)
“My Father will leave nothing for me to do” - Alexander the Great (This one is pretty self explanatory. Philip II was Alexander's father and king of Macedonia before him. He turned the community from herds men, to political, militant, successful people and took over most of the surrounding regions. So Alexander felt like there was nothing left for him to do when he grew up. It was like he felt Philip II was doing like in the lion king “One day all of this will be yours”… But you don't get to help shape it…)
“We should praise the person that feels angry on the right grounds and against the right persons, and also in the right moment and for the right amount of time” - Aristotle (I don't completely agree with this, as “right” is relative. But what it is saying is, it's ok to be mad sometimes, don't hate on someone who is mad about the right thing)
“Whoever grows angry amid troubles, applies a drug worse than the disease” - Aristotle (If you get mad because something is not working out, it is not going to help you get through it any faster)
“Wherefore the sick, the necessitous,[those at war], love sick, the thirsty, in a word, all those who desire something but cannot obtain it, are prone to anger and easily excited , especially against those who make light of their present condition; For instance, the sick man is easily provoked in regard to his illness, the necessitous in regard to his poverty, the warrior in regard to his warlike affairs, the lover in regard to love afairs, and so will all the rest; for the passion present in his mind in each case paves the way for his anger” - Aristotle (People are easily angered when people that don't care about their passion, talk about their passion)
“Arrogance is impediment to wisdom” - Bias of Priene (Arrogance gets in the way of good judgement)
“Whoever think he alone has speech, or possesses speech or mind above others, when unfolded such men are seen to be empty” - Sophocles (When someone is literally willing to boast about their intelligence all the time, it usually means they don't have any actual intelligence to share with anyone)
“Wit is educated insolence” - Aristotle (Wit is just a smart way to be a complete dick)
“Character is Destiny” - Heraclitus (Whatever kind of person you are projecting to other people, is what you are most likely to end up like)
“It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath” - Aeschylus (If you are a known liar, no one is going to trust your word)
“Only do such acts as you will not regret later” - Pythagras (Do things you can be proud of)
“In every one of us there are two ruling and directing principles, whose guidance we follow wherever they may lead. The one being an innate desire of pleasure; the other, an acquired judgement which aspires after excellence” - Socrates, quoted by Plato (There is a force in you that makes you want certain things, and another force that comes from experiencing good things and is a more controlled thing)
“Badness can be got easily and in shoals; the road to her is smooth, and she lives very near us. But between us and the goodness, the gods put the sweat of our brow; long and steep is the path that leads to her” - Hesiod (Stealing, cheating and stomping on people is easy. Working with them is a little harder)
“We ought to do everything both cautiously and confidently at the same time” - Epictetus (Be passionate and proud of what you do, but watch your step)
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted” - Aesop (No matter how small a good deed is, it could inspire an infinite number of other good deeds, and in itself was not useless, even without the effect)
“Kindness is ever the begetter of kindness” - Sophocles (Kindness breeds kindness, so if you are kind, it can make more kind things happen, and of course, some of those good things will come in your direction)
“If we always helped each other, no one would need luck” - Menander (This means, that luck is only part of a competitive system. If I see you are “down on your luck” and I help you out, you don't need good luck, as I am your good luck)
“It is the task of a good man to help those in misfortune” - Sophocles (You can't be a good man if you just help your friends and fund projects/buy things that come from well established producers of the products you need)
“He who cares for his brother, cares for himself” - Xenophon (Looking out for others means that you will have others looking out for you)
“Words are the physicians of a mind diseased” - Aeschylus (Being introduced to the right idea, can make anyone a “better person” )
“In generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by conferring, not receiving, favors. Yet, of course, the doer of the favor is the firmer friend of the two, in order by continued kindness to keep the recipient in his debt; while the debtor feels less keenly from the very consciousness that the return favor he makes will be a payment, and not a free gift” - Pericles (Basically he is saying that we make friends my “granting” people favors of whatever kind, and that the person that gives the original favor is the better friend, as they gave the favor out of a desire for goodness or friendship, while the recipient isn't necessarily a bad friend, but by default is paying the first person back the next time they help them with anything.)
“Heroes have the whole Earth for their tomb” - Pericles (If you do great things, the stories told about you, the impression you left and the knowledge passed down from you will do far more for everyone than any head stone)
“To preserve, trusting in what hopes he has, is courage in a man” - Euripides (Courage means not giving up hope)
“The bravest are surely those who have a clear vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and, notwithstanding, go out to face it” - Thucydides (Facing your fears and handling power is a brave thing to do)
“Danger gleams like sunshine to a brave mans eyes” - Euripides (Where you see a bad neighborhood which should be avoided, someone else might just see the place he has to go once a day, or he might even see a play ground)
“Brave hearts do not back down” - Sophocles (A brave person sticks to their guns)
“Courage is to be undismayed by fears of death and be confident in alarms
and have brave face in face of dangers, and to prefer a fine death over security, and to be the cause of victory. It also belongs to courage to labor and endure and play a manly part. Courage is accompanied by confidence and bravery and daring, and also by perseverance and endurance” - Aristotle (Courage means facing situations that could lead to your death, as well as keeping a level head in intense situations. Bravery also includes not sitting behind walls and armor, but facing the world and wanting to die doing what you love. And being courageous will inspire other good qualities)
“The brave endure their labors, the cowardly are worth nothing at all” - Euripides (Stick with what you are doing, it is the brave thing to do)
“Those who cannot bravely face danger are the slaves of their attackers” - Aristotle (stand up for yourself or people will walk all over you)
“When a man does not shrink from a deed, he is not scared by a word” - Sophocles (If you don't do things you have to hide, you will never have to be ashamed of things people say about you)
“These are Sparta's walls” - King Agesilaus II (He was asked why Sparta had no walls, so he pointed to his soldiers, and said that they were the walls)
“Fortune is not on the side of the fainthearted” - Sophocles (If you want something, you have to go for it, don't be scared or nothing will ever get done towards your goals)
“Don't you realize that war has need, not of those who run away, but of those who stand their ground?” - King Agesilaus II (He said this after hearing a soldier ask to buy a horse)
“He is the best man who, when making his plans, fears and reflects on everything that can happen to him, but in the moment of action is bold” - Herodotus (Plan things expecting the worst, carry out your actions hoping for the best)
“The Spartans do not ask how many are the enemy, but where are they.” - King Agis (If something needs to be done, do it)
“I think that just as one man's body is naturally stronger than another's for labor, so one man's soul is naturally braver than another's in danger. For I notice that men brought up under the same laws and customs differ widely in dating” - Socrates (Some people are good at working and staying in once place, some people are good at moving forward and facing danger)
“The young men are the walls of Sparta, and the points of their spears its boundaries” - King Antalcidas (Meaning, the soldiers defend Sparta, while their weapons tell them how far they can infringe on the borders of others)
“Come and take them…” - King Leonidas (When he was asked by Xerxes to hand over his weapons. Basically, don't give up on your ideas, even in the face of impossible odds)
“Appearances are often deceiving” - Aesop (Some times you think you are doing something good, but really you are the over all evil one. And vice versa)
“I have learned to hate all traitors, and there is no disease that I spit on more than treachery” - Aeschylus (Basically saying that snitches can't be trusted, even if they help you at one point. And getting things through lies is wothy of being spat on)
“Words are but the shadows of actions” - Democritus (You can say something all day, but what matters is if you will actually do something)
“It is difficulties that show what men are” - Epictetus (Times of peace and wealth don't show your true side. The way you treat a struggle shows your true side)
“Consider at what price you sell your freedom of will. If you must sell it, man, at least do not sell it cheap” - Epictetus (How much is your soul worth? How easy is it for someone to change your mind?)
“Bear and Forbear” - Epictetus (Wear some things out openly on your sleeve, keep some things to yourself)
“Our aim is not to know what courage is but to be courageous, not to know what justice is but to be just, in the same way as we want to be healthy rather than to ascertain what health is, and to be in good condition of body rather than to ascertain what good bodily condition is” - Aristotle (Don't just think, do)
“Fortune is unstable, while our will is free” - Epicurus (Free will, will always be with you. Money can leave you very easily)
“Self-will in the man who does not reckon wisely is by itself the weakest of all things” - Aeschylus (If you don't make decisions for yourself, why do you have free will?)
“The beginning is more than half the whole task” - Aristotle (Getting started is the hardest part)
“We have a man who does not boast, but whose hand sees what must be done” - Aeschylus (If you do the right thing, it's ok for no one to notice)
“Reason is not measured by size or height, but by principle” - Epictetus (You cannot measure reason, it is simply something that a person sees as reasonable or not)
“By law a man is free and another slave. But by nature there is no difference between them. That's why such a relationship is not just but, rather, violent” - Aristotle (Slavery is not ok)
“All men believe that justice means equality” - Aristotle (Justice means making sure everyone gets treated the same)
“It is clear that not in one thing alone, but in many ways, equality and freedom of speech are a good thing” - Herodotus (Keeping freedoms away from people keeps the future away from everyone)
“Inequality is everywhere at the bottom of faction, for, in general, faction arises from men's striving for what is equal” - Aristotle (At the bottom of a new political organization, there is inequality, or else the faction would have not began)
“Every creature is better or worse because of its own particular virtue or vice. Can it be, then, that man is the only creature without a special virtue, but he must have recourse to his hair, and his clothes, and his posterity” - Epictetus (It seems as if animals have certain moral codes, while humans tend o focus more on hair, clothes and children)
“If we look to our laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way. If a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition” - Pericles (A society must be equal to all of its citizens, or the government will be a bunch of people trying to get their way)
“The art of being a slave is to rule one's master” - Diogenes (The best slave is a slave who can trick his master into thinking he is a dumb slave that can't do or plan anything, while he plans and does things)
“Equality will never be found among humans” - Euripides (Humans will always work against each other)
“Cowards do not count in battle; they are there, but not in it” - Euripides (If a man is scared of battle, he is not going to make a good person to stand next to in peril)
“Most of men are naturally apt to be swayed by fear rather than reverence, and to refrain from evil rather because of the punishment that it brings than because of its own foulness” - Aristotle (Most people follow fear, not what is good. And most people will follow the laws because of the punishment, not because of what they stand for)
“The coward calls the brave man rash; the rash man calls him a coward” - Aristotle (People are what they are, and they are different)
“Cowardice is to be easily excited by chance alarms, and especially by fear of death or of bodily injuries, and to think it better to save oneself by any means than to meet a fine end. Cowardice is accompanied by softness, inmannliness, faint-heartedness, fondness of life; and it also has an element of cautiousness and submissiveness of character” - Aristotle (Cowards are easily startled, and comes with other bad things)
“To him who is afraid, everything rustles” - Sophocles (If you are scared, you will scare yourself more)
“Why should he who is scared be careful?” - (Think about why you are scared before you actually let yourself be scared)
“Abhor flatterers as you would deceivers; for both, if trusted, injure those who trust them. If you admit as friends men who seek your favor for the lowest ends, your life will be lacking in friends who will risk your displeasure for the highest good” - Isocrates (Friends who need your help are the best, as they need your help. People who flatter you or deceive you just want something that they could have themselves without you one day)
“A tyrant is really nothing but a slave since he accepts flattery and deceit and in turn flatters those who are base. A trait of a tyrant is never to know true freedom nor true friendship” - Plato (Someone who makes other people do their will without consideration for the other person will are actually a slave to the other persons will, as it is still there and will still be active in any plans that are carried out)
“Most men like flattery, for a flatterer is a friend who is your inferior, or pretends to be so, and to love you more than you love him; but to be loved is felt to be nearly the same as to be honored, which most people covet” - Aristotle (It is natural to want to be flattered, but be cautious of anyone who is willing to flatter you)
“He is free who lives as he wills, who is subject neither to compulsion, nor hindrance, nor force, whose choices are unhampered, whose desire attain their end, whose aversions do not fall into what they would avoid” - Epictetus (Being free means being able to do what you want, without being slowed down, and without having to force your way into getting it done. And being free means your choices see themselves through)
“Nature has given us one tongue and two ears, so that we would listen twice as much as we speak” - Zeno of Elea (Sometimes the answer to what you looking for is in someone else's question, and people you wouldn't expect to say something important could say the most important thing of all. So listen)
“Wise is he who compresses many thoughts into few words” - Aristophanes (If you can say many things, without going around in circles to explain them, you have a gift)
“Consider before acting, to avoid foolishness: It is the worthless man who speaks and acts thoughtlessly” - Pythagoras (Literally THINK before you act. Do not just go through life as if it is not human activity that requires human attention, and make sure you thoroughly way the options in any new situation)
“It is man who endure toil and dare dangers that achieve glorious deeds, and it is a lovely thing to live with courage and to die leaving behind an everlasting renown” - Alexander the Great (If you want to be known for doing great things, you must face great problems and it is great to lave behind a legacy)
“The nearest way to glory is to strive to be what you wish to be thought to be” - Socrates (The quickest way to become what you want to become, is to act like the person you want to be)
“Glory in excess is fraught with peril; the lofty peak is struck by Zeus' thunderbolt” - Aeschylus (If you get to a position of power, you will always have people who are looking to knock you off your perch)
“Toil, says the proverb, is the sire of fame” - Euripides (Hard work is the road to fame)
“I see that my funeral rites will be imposing” - Alexander the Great (I have not read the piece this is from, so I can only assume based on what I know of Alexander. But this was on his deathbed, and I think he believed that when he died people were going to overlook their respect for him and go straight for his kingdom the moment he was gone. As he had done with his own father.)
“If I have done any goodly dead, that shall be my memorial; but if not, then not all the statues in the world, the works of menial and worthless men, will avail” - King Agesilaus (on his deathbed, he was saying, if he has done something good, remember him for it, if not, then look at the statues of the people that did do good things. Don't focus on the bad.)
“Externals are not under my control; moral choice is under my control. Where am I to look for the good and the evil? Within me, in that which is my own” - Epictetus (You can not control the world that comes at you, you can only
control how you handle it. Good and evil is how you react to things)
“There is one only good, namely, knowledge; and one only evil, namely, ignorance” - Socrates (If you know what you are doing, you can do good. If you ignore the facts in front of you, you are ultimately doing something evil)
“The essence of good and evil is a certain disposition of the will” - Epictetus (Good and Evil can be found in your choices.
“In the world of knowledge, the essential form of good is the limit of our inquiries, and can barely be perceived. However, when perceived, we cannot help concluding that it is in every case the source of all that is bright and beautiful- in the visible world giving birth to light and its master, and in the intellectual world dispensing, immediately and with full authority, truth and reason- and that whosoever would act wisely, either in private or in public, must set this form of good before his eyes” - Socrates (The amount of good you can do is limited by how much you allow yourself to learn. And once you ask enough questions, you will find the beauty in the world)
“No one who errs unwillingly is evil” - Sophocles (A good example is a soldier, he is only carrying out orders, he is not doing something he would normally do)
“Nothing is sufficient for the person who finds sufficient too little” - Epicurus (If you are always looking for something better, you will never truly be happy)
“In the case of base desires few people go wrong and only in one way, in the direction of too much” - Aristotle (Everyone has the same basic wants. Don't go overboard trying to get them and once you do)
“Luxury and avarice have similar results” - Pythagoras (Extreme greed is basically no different from a desire for luxury)
“The hope of dishonest profit is the beginning of loss” - Menander (Getting money by cheating is the best way to lose your money)
“Prefer honest poverty to unjust wealth; for justice is better than riches in that riches profit us only while we live, while justice provides us glory, even after we are dead; and while riches are shared by bad men, justice is a thing in which the wicked can have no part” - Isocrates (If you are a just person, your family and posterity will prosper from it, while if you steal for what you have, you will die hated but rich)
“In a rich mans house there is no place to spit but his face” - Diogenes (While a rich man might think it is worthy of a poor mans items to receive disrespect, it is actually the actions of the rich man which deserve disrespect)
“Character is simply habit long continued” - Plutarch (Character is defined by what you continue to do)
“It is a matter of no little importance what sort of habits we form from the earliest age- it makes a vast difference, or rather all the difference in the world” - Aristotle (People will recognize the things you do over and over as you grow up)
“To do the same thing over and over again is not only boredom: it is to be controlled by, rather than controlling, what you do” - Heraclitus (Basically like the one rap song says “Too much of anything makes you an addict” )
“If you want to do something, make a habit of it; if you want not to do something, then refrain from doing it, and accustom yourself to something else instead” - Epictetus (If you don't like your habits, then work to change them)
“How does a person who cannot tame his desires differ from the most ignorant beast?” - Xenophon (If you cannot control yourself, you are no better than an animal, and we could actually argue that most animals are already better people than most people)
“The moral virtues are produced in us neither by nature nor against nature. Nature prepares in us the ground for their reception, but their complete formation is the product of habit” - Aristotle (Humans are the ones who create virtue, nature simply presents us with opportunity)
“What reinforcement, then, is it possible to find with which to oppose habit? Why, the contrary habit” - Epictetus (Habits can be beaten with new habits)
“We are more sensible of what is done against custom than against nature” - Plutarch (We recognize crimes against man better than we recognize our own crimes against nature)
“If you had any knowledge of the noble things of life, you would refrain from coveting others' possessions, but for me to die for Greece is better than to be the sole ruler over the people of my race” - King Leonidas (This was his answer when Xerxes came to Sparta and asked for free passage, and said that in return he would make Leonidas the king of Greece once he defeated them)
“In meat and drink and sleep and sex, all creatures alike seem to take pleasure; but love of honor is rooted neither in the brute beasts nor in every human being” - Xenophon (Love of honor is something that is very rare among the creatures of Earth, but some humans possess it)
“When a man gives way to pleasure contrary to the counsel and commendation of the lawgiver, he is by no means conferring honor on his soul, but rather dishonor, by loading it with woes and remorse” - Plato (If you seek pleasure when you shouldn't, you are actually dishonoring yourself)
“Athenians excel all other not so much in singing or in statue or in strength, as in love of honor, which is the strongest incentive to deeds of honor and renown” - Xenophon (Working for honor is the best way to find honor)
“The tyranny imposed on the soul by anger, or fear, or lust, or pain, or envy, or desire, I generally call injustice” - Plato (He is basically giving some of his definitions of injustice)
“Don't appear just; be just” - Aeschylus (Don't try to look like you are being your best, be your best and do good things)
“It is the way that we behave in our dealings with other people that makes us just or unjust, and the way that we behave in the face of danger, accustoming ourselves to be timid or confident, that makes us brave or cowardly” - Aristotle (You might think you are a good or brave person, but how do you really behave when tested?)
“The duty of the virtuous men is to serve justice and to always, in every occasion, punish evil ones” - Euripides (If you want to be a “good” person, you need to strive for equality and punish evil)
“If you expect to stop denunciation of your wrong way of life by putting people to death, there is something amiss with your reasoning. This way of escape is neither possible nor credible; the best and easiest way is to not stop the mouths of others, but to make yourselves as well-behaved as possible” - Socrates (If you plan on stopping people from hearing about your bad deeds, by covering them up with more bad deeds, then you will fail. The best way to cover up bad deeds, is to act as good as possible)
“Injustice is an act that disregards all laws” - Euripides (Treating some one like they are lower than you is the worst crime)
“the question what rules of conduct should govern the relation between husband and wife, and generally between friend and friend, seems to be ultimately a question of justice” - Aristotle (Everyone wants to be treated like equals)
“The worst case of injustice is for someone to believe he is just while he is not” - Plato (basically the same as injustice being ignorance. If you don't look deep enough into the situation to find out if you are the bad guy, then you probably are)
“When you act justly, you have the gods as allies” - Menander (When you treat other people well, you will have good standing and good things will happen)
“In the state where court cases and great injustices abound, citizens will never become friends” - Plato (In a country where people are suing each other all the time, nothing will ever stabilize and people cannot trust each other)
“A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true” - Plato (If you base your values on the way you personally and directly feel about something, then you cannot be fair and are probably wrong)
“If you have done terrible things, you must endure terrible things; for thus the sacred light of injustice burns bright” - Sophocles (Basically Karma. Do bad things, get bad things done to you)
“Where injustice doesn't exist, citizens are philanthropists” - Menander (Basically being said backwards. If everyone is a philanthropist, injustice cannot exist. Meaning, if everyone wants to help people, how can anyone be wronged?)
“Unjust living is not only more shameful and wicked than righteous living, but also more unpleasant for those engaged in it” - Plato (Living in a state of inequality with others, even when at the top, is usually unpleasant)
“The only time an unjust man will scream against injustice is when he is afraid someone will practice it against him” - Plato (Rich and bad people don't care about a problem until the problem has brought itself to their doorstep)
“The unjust will never be able to create something in unison” - Plato (Even when unjust people build an organization, the people within it are secretly working against one another)
“Justice turns the scale, bringing to some learning through suffering” - Aeschylus (Justice brings fairness to a world where brute force ruled before)
“There is a point beyond, where even justice becomes unjust” - Sophocles (Everyone is the bad guy from someone or somethings perspective)
“It is preferable to be wronged than to wrong” - Socrates (In the long run it is better to be a victim than to create them)
“Be brave, justice always prevails” - Euripides (As long as you have thoroughly looked through everything and found yourself to be in the right, you have nothing to worry about)
“All souls are immortal, but the souls of the virtuous are both immortal and divine” - Socrates (Your soul will live on forever, but if you are a good person, your name will live on forever as well)
“The manner by which the masses can see the beauty of justice is to teach them, by simple means, the result of injustice” - Euripides (The best way to learn what injustice does, is to see what injustice does)
“An unjust deed doesn't escape the gods attention” - Plato (doing bad things will come back to haunt you)
“What the judge does is to restore equality” - Aristotle (A judges job is to make sure that no one is treated any better than any other person, for any reason)
“An army of deer led by a lion is more to be feared than an army of lions led by a deer” - Philip II (If you are a brave and charismatic leader, you can get more done than any leader who is timid)
“There is no greater proof of the abilities of a general than to investigate, with utmost care, into the character and natural abilities of his opponent” - Polybius (If you put yourself up to easy tasks, you don't really know if you are any good at anything)
“Be slow in action and when you act be steady” - Bias of Priene (Do not act rash in the heat of a situation, and when if you act later make sure you know what you are doing)
“The noble part of the soul, not the illogical, must lead the soul” - Aristotle (Do what you think is noble, not what you think needs to be done just because you think it needs to be done
“A good general not only sees a way to victory, he knows when victory is impossible” - Polybius (You have to know your limitations)
“What a great statesman must be most anxious to produce is a certain moral character in his fellow citizens, namely a disposition to virtue and the performance of virtuous actions” - Aristotle (A good politician should want to make people better)
“On him who wields power gently, the gods look favorably from afar” - Aeschylus (Having power and not using it is the best way to prove your virtue)
"He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled" - Aristotle (The best king is one who knows what it is like to be a peasant)
"A monarch, when he decides to change the moral habits of a state, needs no great efforts or vast length of time, but what he does need is to lead the way himself first along the desired path, whether it be to urge the citizens towards virtue's practices or the contrary; by his personal example he should first trace out the right lines, giving praise and honor to these things, blame to those, and degrading the disobedient according to their several deeds" - Plato (If you want to change the social structure, you must first be the change you wish to see)
"He who desires a shameful act, will carry it out first chance he gets" - Cleanthes (If you give a dirtbag a chance to do something bad, he will)
"External gods, being like a collection of tools each useful for some purpose, have a limit: one can have too many of them, and that is bound to be of no benefit, or even a positive injury, to their possessors" - Aristotle (Live within your means, and only keep a collection of things you NEED )
"Know not to revere human things too much" - Aeschylus (Material possessions don't mean as much as you think... Try to store up things you can take with you when you die, or that other people can keep to remember you when you die)
"To each man there comes just so much happiness as he has of virtue and of practical wisdom, and preforms actions dependent thereon. God himself is an indication of the truth of this. He is blessed and happy not on account of any of the external goods but because of himself and what he is by his own nature" - Aristotle (If you look at god, he is not happy because of what he owns. He is happy because of what he has created. If you do not attempt to live with wisdom and virtue, your happiness will be limited)
"How many things there are which I do not need!" - Socrates (At an ancient auction. Basically saying that people are wasting their time and money buying too many things)
"It is not by means of external goods that men acquire to keep the virtues, but the other way around" - Aristotle (People with money will pretend to be good people so that they can keep their money)
"Nothing in excess" - Thales of Miletus (Don't buy too much of anything)
"Profligacy means choosing harmful and base pleasures and enjoyments, and thinking that the happiest people are those who pass their lives in pleasures of that kind, and being fond of laughter and mockery and jokes and levity in words and deeds. Profligacy is accomplished by disorder, shamelessness, irregularity, luxury, slackness, carelessness, negligence, remissness" -Aristotle (It is not good to try to entertain yourself at all times, that is not the happiest people. And hurting other people for fun is really creating a behavior in you that is shameless, irregular, greedy, lazy, careless and negligent)
"Everyone enjoys tasty food and wine and sex in some degree, but not everyone to the right degree" - Aristotle (Everyone likes good things. But some people go overboard)
"One must choose in all things a mean just and good" - Pythagoras (Even if you feel as if you are being forced to do something, try to do it the right and good way, the way that benefits the most people and pushes for equality)
"Do not spend in excess like one who is careless of what is good, nor be miserly; the mean is best in every case" - Pythagoras (Don't spend your money like it is endless, and don't hold onto it like a old grouch)
"Contempt of pleasure..." - King Agesilaus (This was his answer when he was asked what good his laws had done for sparta. What it means is, they did not seek pleasure like most people, and in that they found strength above others)
"Even if you are all alone speak and do no evil and learn to be first ashamed of your own self and then of what others might say of you" - Democritus (Have integrity, learn to laugh at yourself, and make sure you have a conscience)
"You will be respected by everyone if you first start respecting yourself" - Mousonios (If you can't believe in yourself, who can?)
"Conceit is a trait of an immoral person while modesty of a serious one" - Filo (If you are conceded, people will think you are a bad person. If you are modest, people will take you seriously)
"Among all human beings, first respect yourself" - Pythagoras (Don't think of other people as better than you, we are all people)
"In you conversation avoid making mention at great length and excessively of your own deeds and dangers, because it is not as pleasant for others to hear about your adventures, as it is for you to call to mind your own dangers" - Epictetus (You have to have topics to discuss besides yourself and your life)
"Wherever there is fear there exists respect" - Plutarch (Is someone is afraid, the will respect the person they are afraid of. But that doesn't mean they are bound to that person. This quote kinda reminds me of a joke, Q: What do you call an 800 lb Gorilla? A: Sir.)
"In all things resolve to act as though the whole world would see what you do; for even if you conceal your deeds for the moment, later you will be found out. But most of all will you have the respect of men, if you are seen to avoid doing things which you would blame others for doing" - Isocrates (If you feel like you will have to blame someone else for something you are doing, then you shouldn't even do it, because you are playing a losing game)
"Verily nature has... given me a sense of shame, and frequently blush, when I feel that I am saying something disgraceful. It is this emotion which does not allow me to lay down pleasure as the good and end of life" - Epictetus (If pleasure is the goal of life, then why do we have pride to keep?)
"The greatest treasure you can leave their children is a sense of modesty and the advice to follow virtuous persons" - Theognis (To be a good parent, you don't need to be smart. Just make sure your kids don't boast about themselves, and make sure they know of good role models instead of just what is presented to them by TV)
"Avoid raising a laugh, for this is a kind of behavior that slips easily into vulgarity, and at the same time is calculated to lessen the respect with which your neighbors have for you" - Epictetus (If you are always making fun of people, and laughing at people then people aren't going to respect you)
"Shame is not the emotion of a good man, if it is felt for doing bad actions, because such action ought not to be done (and it makes no difference, whether the things done are really shameful or are only thought to be so; they should not be done in either case); so the emotion ought not to be felt" - Aristotle (If you try not to get into situations that you will feel ashamed of, then you won't have to worry about feeling bad about yourself)
"It is dangerous... to lapse into foul language. When, therefore, anything of the sort occurs, if the occasion be suitable, go even so far as to reprove the person who has made such a lapse; if, however, the occasion does not arise, at all events show by keeping silence, and blushing, and frowning, that you are displeased by what has been said" - Epictetus (It is not good to use foul language in everything you say, as there exists people who won't even hear what you are saying, they will only hear cuss words and tell you to stop, even if you saying something that needs saying)
"Compared with your mother and father and all the rest of your ancestors your country is something that is far more precious, more venerable, more sacred, and held in greater honor both among gods and among all reasonable men" - Plato (You country, in some respects, is more important to you than your family, whether you like it or not. Good or bad. It's there, and it's important)
"Without a sign his sword the brave man draws, and asks no omen but his countries cause" - Homer (A brave man pulls out his weapon without a second thought, and the only reason and support he needs is his countries good will)
"If your country leads you out to war, to be wounded or killed, you must comply, and it is just that this should be so- you must not give or retreat or abandon your position" - Plato (If you take an oath or make a promise, stick by it)
"What a fine thing it is to refuse to sell your country!" - Demosthenes (Some things are more important than money)
"Do not put your work off until tomorrow and the day after; for a sluggish worker does not fill his barn, nor one who puts off his work: industry makes work go well, but a man who puts off work is always at hand-grips with ruin" - Hesiod (Putting off work just makes you more likely to fail)
"For just as poets love their own works, and fathers their own children, in the same way those who have created a fortune value their money, not merely for its uses, like other persons, but because it is their own production. This makes them moreover disagreeable companions, because they will praise nothing but riches" - Plato (People who worry about nothing but money are no good, because all they worry about is money)
"The cause of all sins in every case lies in the person's excessive love of self" - Plato (People who do lie and do other bad things all the time usually don't care about anyone but themselves)
"Know thyself" - Oracle of Apollo at Delphi (Know what you like, and what you are capable of, good and bad)
"The examined life is not worth living" - Socrates (If you are not paying attention to how you live your life and what goes on around you, then why are you alive?)
"It is the part of the uneducated person to blame others where he himself fares ill; to blame himself is the part of one whose education has begun; to blame neither another nor his own self is the part of one whose education is already complete" - Epictetus (If you are stupid, you blame people who you think understand it. If you have begun to learn about things, you blame yourself. But in the end, you realize that the human race is just not perfect)
"To win over your bad self is the grandest and foremost of victories" - Plato (To be able to keep yourself from indulging in desires is the highest proof of your strength of will)
"To deceive yourself and believe that which you don't know to, indeed, know is borderline madness" - Socrates (If you believe something that you don't understand, then you are basically crazy)
"Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom" - Aristotle (Trying to understand who you are, and why you are what you are is the best way to start to learn things about the world)
"Getting to know yourself is extremely difficult" - Thales of Miletus (The only way to explain this is with an extreme example. How do you know if you enjoy killing people until you have killed someone?)
"I investigate not myths but myself, to know whether I am a monster more complicated and more furious than Typhon or a gentler simpler creature, to whom a divine and quiet lot is given by nature" - Socrates (Try to figure out if you are the bad guy, and where that is going to get you)
"Don't attempt to heal others when you yourself are full of wounds" - Euripides (Pay attention to your own problems and your own families problems, as that is usually the best way to help other people as well)
"Generally, we're all wise when advising others but we fail to see that we also err" - Socrates (It's easy to see the flaws of others, but do you notice your own flaws?)
"Learn what it is to be human and you will be a better human" - Antiphanes (If you learn about cultures outside of your own, you will have a better perspective on how you are affecting people)
"You will become a teacher of yourself when for the same things that you blame others, you also blame yourself" - Diogenes (If you lay in judgement of others, you must make sure to lay in judgement of yourself)
"Self-knowledge is observation of your actions and knowing the right thing to do at any given moment" - Meanader (You need to understand the thing you do, and be better at doing them by not just going through the actions)
"I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of; but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance. At any rate it seems like I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know" - Socrates (You have to know what you can and can't do, and you shouldn't get yourself into things that you can't handle)
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