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Your favourite ancient quote?
- Thread starter Druidus
- Start date
No*s
Captain Obvious
Socrates: Know yourself
Cicero: He who does not know both sides, knows neither side
Early Christian cliche (found in several Fathers): God became man so that men might become God
The insulting match between Achilles and Agamemnon (my favorite was Achilles' calling Agamemnon κυνῶπις (keenopees), or "dog-eyed").
Soldier: "King Leonides! The Persians have so many arrows that they blot out the sun!" Leonidas: "Then today we will fight in the darkness."
Dante's Inferno: "Abandon all hope ye who enter herein" (I like to quote this to people getting married
).
Ancient Christian Hymn: "Christ has trampled down death by death and to those in the tombs bestowed life."
Ecclesiastes 10.19: "Money is the answer for everything." (I like the shock value)
Philippians 2.6-11
Is. 45.7: "I form the light and create the darkness, I make peace and create evil. I the Lord God am the One who makes all things."
Caesar: "Vini vidi vici" "I came, saw, conquered."
The Athenian runner after Marathon: "victory" (νίκη, neekee) just before he died, and the women manned to posts to make it look like Athens hadn't even sent out all their men.
I like antiquity
Cicero: He who does not know both sides, knows neither side
Early Christian cliche (found in several Fathers): God became man so that men might become God
The insulting match between Achilles and Agamemnon (my favorite was Achilles' calling Agamemnon κυνῶπις (keenopees), or "dog-eyed").
Soldier: "King Leonides! The Persians have so many arrows that they blot out the sun!" Leonidas: "Then today we will fight in the darkness."
Dante's Inferno: "Abandon all hope ye who enter herein" (I like to quote this to people getting married
).Ancient Christian Hymn: "Christ has trampled down death by death and to those in the tombs bestowed life."
Ecclesiastes 10.19: "Money is the answer for everything." (I like the shock value
)Philippians 2.6-11
Is. 45.7: "I form the light and create the darkness, I make peace and create evil. I the Lord God am the One who makes all things."
Caesar: "Vini vidi vici" "I came, saw, conquered."
The Athenian runner after Marathon: "victory" (νίκη, neekee) just before he died, and the women manned to posts to make it look like Athens hadn't even sent out all their men
.I like antiquity
Master Vigil
Well-Known Member
Lets see, just a few...
"The course of true love never did run smooth." - Shakespeare
"Life is not separate from death. It only looks that way." - Blackfoot Proverb
And one of my favorite lines from the Tao Teh Ching...
"Here is the way of heaven... when you have done your work, retire."
"The course of true love never did run smooth." - Shakespeare
"Life is not separate from death. It only looks that way." - Blackfoot Proverb
And one of my favorite lines from the Tao Teh Ching...
"Here is the way of heaven... when you have done your work, retire."
Feathers in Hair
World's Tallest Hobbit
Mine is actually a translation of the world "Eureka!" from the Discworld books, where philosophers are given their own country so that they can not make trouble elsewhere...
"Eureka!" means "Please, can someone find me a towel?"
"Eureka!" means "Please, can someone find me a towel?"
Lightkeeper
Well-Known Member
I thought "Eureka" meant "you smell" in Italian.FeathersinHair said:
cardero
Citizen Mod
As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.
-Leonardo Da Vinci(1452-1519)
Intellectual passion drives out sensuality.
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the of the main.
-John Doone (1572-1631)
The life given us by nature is short, but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal-
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)
In adversity remember to keep an even mind.
-Quintus Horatius Flaceus, (65-8 B.C.)
Art is right reason in the doing of work.
-St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
It takes a wise man to recognize a wise man-
Xenophanes (570-480 B.C.)
Even GOD lends a hand to honest boldness.
-Menander (343-291 B.C.)
Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.
-Laertius Diogenes (Third Century)
Men willingly believe what they wish.
-Julius Caesar (102-44 B.C.)
Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you: everything passes away except GOD; GOD alone is sufficient.-St Theresa (1515-1582)
Once harm has been done, even a fool understands it.
-Homer (1200-850 B.C.)
We secure our friends not by accepting favors but by doing them.
Thucydides (460-400 B.C.)
A lie never lives to be old.
-Socrates (469-399 B.C.)
The life which is unexamined is not worth living.
-Plato (427-347)
Nothin is easier than self-deceit.
-Demosthenes (384-322 B.C.)
You can tell the character of every man when you see how he receives praise.
-Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C.-A.D. 65)
Our life is what our thoughts make of it.
-Marcus Aurelius (121-180)
Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677)
Most of man's trouble comes from his inability to be still.
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
Strange how a good dinner reconciles everybody.
Samuel Pepys (1633-1703)
-Leonardo Da Vinci(1452-1519)
Intellectual passion drives out sensuality.
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the of the main.
-John Doone (1572-1631)
The life given us by nature is short, but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal-
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)
In adversity remember to keep an even mind.
-Quintus Horatius Flaceus, (65-8 B.C.)
Art is right reason in the doing of work.
-St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
It takes a wise man to recognize a wise man-
Xenophanes (570-480 B.C.)
Even GOD lends a hand to honest boldness.
-Menander (343-291 B.C.)
Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.
-Laertius Diogenes (Third Century)
Men willingly believe what they wish.
-Julius Caesar (102-44 B.C.)
Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you: everything passes away except GOD; GOD alone is sufficient.-St Theresa (1515-1582)
Once harm has been done, even a fool understands it.
-Homer (1200-850 B.C.)
We secure our friends not by accepting favors but by doing them.
Thucydides (460-400 B.C.)
A lie never lives to be old.
-Socrates (469-399 B.C.)
The life which is unexamined is not worth living.
-Plato (427-347)
Nothin is easier than self-deceit.
-Demosthenes (384-322 B.C.)
You can tell the character of every man when you see how he receives praise.
-Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C.-A.D. 65)
Our life is what our thoughts make of it.
-Marcus Aurelius (121-180)
Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677)
Most of man's trouble comes from his inability to be still.
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
Strange how a good dinner reconciles everybody.
Samuel Pepys (1633-1703)
Ceridwen018
Well-Known Member
People were really wise back in the day. It seems like we don't have any good modern quotes, you know? Maybe that's normal--people probably don't realize wisdom of their own time.
Master Vigil
Well-Known Member
There are alot of good modern quotes too. Like this one from Carl Sagan...
"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe."
"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe."
Jaymes
The cake is a lie
A few Chinese proverbs I enjoy:
There is no wave without wind.
Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.
Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without one.
Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness
A closed mind is like a closed book; just a block of wood
Have a mouth as sharp as a dagger but a heart as soft as tofu.
One never needs their humor as much a when they argue with a fool.
Vicious as a tigeress can be, she never eats her own cubs.
[font=verdana, helvetica, sans serif] When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.
[/font]
There is no wave without wind.
Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.
Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without one.
Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness
A closed mind is like a closed book; just a block of wood
Have a mouth as sharp as a dagger but a heart as soft as tofu.
One never needs their humor as much a when they argue with a fool.
Vicious as a tigeress can be, she never eats her own cubs.
[font=verdana, helvetica, sans serif] When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.
[/font]
Lightkeeper
Well-Known Member
From the Upanishads, the concept that the salt doll walks into the ocean and becomes one with everything, returns to the beloved.
No*s
Captain Obvious
OK, I haven't mentioned the king of all classical literature IMO (setting aside my religious affinity for the Bible and some Church Fathers). I must now quote Homer. The Iliad is the single most beautiful poem I have ever read, and frankly, it's worth a bit of struggle to learn Homeric Greek to read, and it's worth just as much struggle to learn the Reconstructed Attic Pronunciation alongside the Modern (which should be the primary pronunciation used for Greek) simply because it simply adds to the spice.
Iliad A lines 1-5
Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληιάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί᾽ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε᾽ ἔθηκε,
πολλὰς δ᾽ ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν
ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν
οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι, Διὸς δ᾽ ἐτελείετο βουλή,
Sing, goddess, of the rage of Peleus' son, Achilles,
The murderous rage, which fashioned suffering for many Achaeans,
and hurled the many mighty lives of warriors to Hades,
and fashioned them to be a feast for birds,
and every bird, but the plan of Zeus was being fulfilled.
That's just a portion of the prologue, but I memorized most of it. It's a very moving piece, and the power simply doesn't come through in translation. I would reccomend many people to learn to read Homeric Greek simply because of the beauty.
Iliad A lines 1-5
Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληιάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί᾽ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε᾽ ἔθηκε,
πολλὰς δ᾽ ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν
ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν
οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι, Διὸς δ᾽ ἐτελείετο βουλή,
Sing, goddess, of the rage of Peleus' son, Achilles,
The murderous rage, which fashioned suffering for many Achaeans,
and hurled the many mighty lives of warriors to Hades,
and fashioned them to be a feast for birds,
and every bird, but the plan of Zeus was being fulfilled.
That's just a portion of the prologue, but I memorized most of it. It's a very moving piece, and the power simply doesn't come through in translation. I would reccomend many people to learn to read Homeric Greek simply because of the beauty
.