Quotes by Greek Authors - Page 18

The poet or the story-teller who cannot give the reader a little ghostly pleasure at times never can be either a really great writer or a great thinker.
Lafcadio Hearn
I heard the voice of that bird, son of Polypas, whose piercing outcryand whose arrival announces to men the season when fieldsare plowed, and the voice of her broke the heart that darkens within me,since other men posess my flourishing acres now,and not for me are the mules dragging the plow through the grainland,since I have given my heart to the restless seafarer's life.
Theognis
The Andrians were the first of the islanders to refuse Themistocles' demand for money. He had put it to them that they would be unable to avoid paying, because the Athenians had the support of two powerful deities, one called Persuasion and the other Compulsion.The Andrians had replied that Athens was lucky to have two such useful gods, who were obviously responsible for her wealth and greatness; unfortunately, they themselves, in their small & inadequate land, had two utterly useless deities, who refused to leave the island and insisted on staying; and their names were Poverty and Inability.
Herodotus
Looking at these people now from behind the counter, made her feel like that little girl again, the deprived child that used to press her nose on the glass, peering at things she could never have.
Effrosyni Moschoudi
An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.
Plutarch
I cannot see you anymore. Your ego spans higher than the Himalayas.” Sutara
Eleni Papanou
We’re automatons in a symphony conducted by a lunatic and performed by blind idealists.” Damon
Eleni Papanou
A weapon needs a wielder; it should not be permitted to start its own fights.""You are not my wielder; you are naught, a forgotten ghost, not even a memory.""Maybe, but you are still a weapon.
Angelo Tsanatelis
That which wounds, shall heal.
Apollo
What remains in diseases after the crisis is apt to produce relapses.
Hippocrates
There is nothing which for my part I like better, Cephalus, than conversing with aged men; for I regard them as travellers who have gone a journey which I too may have to go, and of whom I ought to inquire, whether the way is smooth and easy, or rugged and difficult.
Plato
He needs little who desires but little.
Cleanthes
If your desires are not great, a little will seem much to you; for small appetite makes poverty equivalent to wealth.
Democritus
There is no greater failure than success through wrong means
Nicholas C. Rossis
Jumping from failure to failure with undiminished enthusiasm is the big secret to success.
Savas Dimopoulos
We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes–understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.
Arianna Huffington
Very little is needed for everything to be upset and ruined, only a slight lapse in reason.
Epictetus
...[M]en are put in a sort of guard-post, from which one must not release one's self or run away...
Socrates
When he endures nothing but endless miseries-- What pleasure is there in living the day after day, Edging slowly back and forth toward death?Anyone who warms their heart with the glow Of flickering hope is worth nothing at all. The noble man should either live with honor or die with honor. That's all there is to be said.
Sophocles
When you do anything from a clear judgment that it ought to be done, never shrink from being seen to do it, even though the world should misunderstand it; for if you are not acting rightly, shun the action itself; if you are, why fear those who wrongly censure you?
Epictetus
So it is with sorrow, each thinks his own present grief the most severe. For of this he judges by his own experience. He that is childless considers nothing so sad as to be without children; he that is poor, and has many children, complains of the extreme evils of a large family. He who has but one, looks upon this as the greatest misery, because that one, being set too much store by, and never corrected, becomes willful, and brings grief upon his father. He who has a beautiful wife, thinks nothing so bad as having a beautiful wife, because it is the occasion of jealousy and intrigue. He who has an ugly one, thinks nothing worse than having a plain wife, because it is constantly disagreeable. The private man thinks nothing more mean, more useless, than his mode of life. The soldier declares that nothing is more toilsome, more perilous, than warfare; that it would he better to live on bread and water than endure such hardships. He that is in power thinks there can be no greater burden than to attend to the necessities of others. He that is subject to that power, thinks nothing more servile than living at the beck of others. The married man considers nothing worse than a wife, and the cares of marriage. The unmarried declares there is nothing so wretched as being unmarried, and wanting the repose of a home. The merchant thinks the husbandman happy in his security. The husbandman thinks the merchant so in his wealth. In short, all mankind are somehow hard to please, and discontented and impatient.
John Chrysostom
And yet even in reaching for the beautiful there is beauty, and also in suffering whatever it is that one suffers en route.
Plato
What a lamentable thing it is that men should blame the gods and regard us as the source of their troubles, when it is their own wickedness that brings them sufferings worse than any which destiny allots them.
Homer
For I say there is no other thing that is worse than the sea is for breaking a man, even though he may a very strong one.
Homer
Our eulogies are always about the other stuff: what we gave, how we connected, how much we meant to our family and friends, small kindnesses, lifelong passions, and the things that made us laugh. So why do we spend so much of our limited time on this earth focusing on all the things our eulogy will never cover?
Arianna Huffington
G. I. Gurdieff, "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson"So-and-so-and-so-must-be; do-not-do-what-must-not-be. Mullah's favorite saying. p. 598
Gurdieff
Remember you come here having already understood the necessity of struggling with yourself — only with yourself. Therefore thank everyone who gives you the opportunity.
G.I. Gurdjieff
The Illusory SelfI am composed of body and soul, I seem to have mind, reason, sense, yet I find none of them my own. For where was my body prior to my birth, and whither will it go when I have departed? Where are the various states produced by the life stages of an illusory self? Where is the newborn babe, the child, the boy, the pubescent, the stripling, the bearded youth, the lad, the full-grown man? Whence came the soul, whither will it go, how long will it be our mate? Can we tell its essential nature? When did we acquire it? Prior to our birth? But we were not then in existence. What of it after death? But then we who are embodied, compounds endowed with quality, shall be no more, but shall hasten to our rebirth, to be with the unbodied, without composition and without quality. But now, inasmuch as we are alive, we are the dominated rather than the rulers, known rather than knowing. The soul knows us, though unknown by us, and imposes commands we are obliged to obey as wervants their mistress. And when it will, it will transact its divorce in court and depart, leaving our home desolate of life. If we press it to remain, it will dissolve our relationship. So subtle is its nature that it furnishes no handle to the body.
Philo of Alexandria
Without Psychological Evolution there cannot be any form of revolution. The self is constantly changing. Be involved, be evolved, be revolutionized as lucent and fresh as the new wave hitting at the shore. Become the Sea of Changes. It starts from within.
Grigoris Deoudis
Always having what we wantmay not be the best good fortuneHealth seems sweetestafter sickness, foodin hunger, goodnessin the wake of evil, and at the endof daylong labor sleep.
Heraclitus
Common aim is stronger than blood.
G.I. Gurdjieff
Living a fulfilling relationship requires courage, nakedness and absolute fearlessness.
Liliane Mavridara
The only thing I know is that I know nothing, and i am no quite sure that i know that.
Socrates
...making some noise in the woods is a thing that one can forget. The sound of a man’s voice on the other hand, is something else entirely.
Angelo Tsanatelis
There I was to attempt,Jupiter-only-knew what extravagant acts of foolhardiness, what somepeople call bravery, to rescue a barbarian I barely knew.Do not get me wrong. I did like him.But you don't go ahead and slit your throatbecause you like someone.
Angelo Tsanatelis
Perfection is dangerous. It leaves no room for range.
Natasha Tsakos
Watch through the clarity of your mind ,the clear essence of your soul and judge accordingly.Your Inner Voices state the Truth and only the Truth.Let not anything interfere between your heart and mind.Let not anything break the Silence that comes within and promote Spirit .BECAUSE what matters is to promote Spirit .Voices from within
Katerina Kostaki
frThe Spirit comes gently and makes himself known by his fragrance. He is not felt as a burden for God is light, very light. Rays of light and knowledge stream before him as the Spirit approaches. The Spirit comes with the tenderness of a true friend to save, to heal, to teach, to counsel, to strengthen, and to console.
Cyril of Jerusalem
So you say there is no Father Christmas,                                                                          You say there is no Santa Claus                                                                                         Reindeer cannot fly, it's all a grown-up lie...
M.C. Frank
On Love and Happiness:When someone embarks on his research, if he ever makes it, (there is, in addition, a contingency that he/she will never embark on it), then he sails on a journey, a course that incubates various events.It's like opening a precious gift that hides myriads of secrets. Nobody acknowledges its content unless he attempts to inspect it.Happiness is not always dominated by heavenly chances, blue and green seashores of euphoria and pink clouds of serenity. Happiness does not dwell in luxurious mansions and expensive cars neither in glamorous appearances.Many times Unhappiness and loneliness lurk behind the ledges of luxury and surface brightness.There are so many examples around us, in newspapers, magazines, television and radio of people who are plunged in uncertainty, grief and insecurity.I wonder why this is.
Katerina Kostaki
I have been a stranger here in my own land: All my life
Sophocles
Wealth does not bring about excellence, but excellence makes wealth and everything else good for men, both individually and collectively.
Socrates
Better poverty without a care than wealth with its many obligations.
Aesop
By the aid of philosophy you will live not unpleasantly, for you will learn to extract pleasure from all places and things: wealth will make you happy, because it will enable you to benefit many; and poverty, as you will not then have many anxieties; and glory, for it will make you honoured; and obscurity, for you will then be safe from envy.
Plutarch
wealth does not bring goodness, but goodness brings wealth and every other blessing, both to the individual and to the state
Socrates
When you are wronged and your heart and feelings are hardened, do not be distressed, for this has happened providentially; but be glad and reject the thoughts that arise within you, knowing that if they are destroyed at the stage when they are only provocations, their evil consequences will be cut off, whereas if the thoughts persist the evil may be expected to develop.
St. Mark the Ascetic
So what oppresses and scares us? It is our own thoughts, obviously, What overwhelms people when they are about to leaves friends, family, old haunts and their accustomed way of life? Thoughts.
Epictetus
How can you wonder your travels do you no good, when you carry yourself around with you?
Socrates
An ardent desire to go took possession of me once more. Not because I wanted to leave - I was quite all right on this Cretan coast, and felt happy and free there and I needed nothing - but because I have always been consumed with one desire; to touch and see as much as possible of the earth and the sea before I die.
Nikos Kazantzakis
Wealth without virtue is no harmless neighbor.
Sappho
What is love?It's not empathy, nor kindness.Empathy takes two, the one who hurts and the one who empathizes.Kindness takes two, the one who gives and the one who takes.But love takes just one.The two get together into one.They don't separate.The "I" and the "you" disappear.I LOVE MEANS I DISAPPEAR..
Nikos Kazantzakis
I am convinced that I never wrong anyone intentionally...
Socrates
Be kind, because everyone is having a really hard time.
Plato
The bread which you hold back belongs to the hungry; the coat, which you guard in your locked storage-chests, belongs to the naked; the footwear mouldering in your closet belongs to those without shoes. The silver that you keep hidden in a safe place belongs to the one in need. Thus, however many are those whom you could have provided for, so many are those whom you wrong.
Basil the Great
From looking at your neighbor and realizing his true significance, and that he will die, pity and compassion will arise in you for him and finally you will love him.
G.I. Gurdjieff
Do not waste your pity on a scamp.
Aesop
I could not turn away from anyone Like you, a stranger, or refuse to help him. I know well, being mortal, that my claimUpon the future is no more than yours.
Sophocles
I beg you, alight and join your sorrow with mine: misfortune wanders everywhere, and settles now upon one and now upon another.
Aeschylus
A dog has the soul of a philosopher.
Plato
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.
Plato