Forwarded from Conatus (Zakaria)
the foolishness of a misanthrope lies in the fact that he voices his distaste for man near him, which at bottom shows a disappointed lover of man, if i hate you, what is your bussiness in it, why i ought to let you be a witness of my hatred?
The one who is to be an orator does not need to know what is really just, but what would seem just to the multitudes who are to pass judgement, and not what is really good or noble, but what will seem to be so; for they say that persuasion comes from what seems to be true, not from the truth.
— Plato's Dialogue (Phaedrus)
— Plato's Dialogue (Phaedrus)
Forwarded from Labyrinth
Who hath a harder battle to fight than he who striveth for self-mastery?
(Thomas à Kempis)
(Thomas à Kempis)
In all ages the wisest have always agreed in their judgement of life: it is no good. At all times and places the same words have been on their lips,—words full of doubt, full of melancholy, full of weariness of life, full of hostility to life. Even Socrates’ dying words were:—“To live—means to be ill a long while: I owe a rooster to the god Æsculapius.”
These great sages of all periods should first be examined more closely! Is it possible that they were, everyone of them, a little shaky on their legs, effete, rocky, decadent? Does wisdom perhaps appear on earth after the manner of a crow attracted by a slight smell of carrion?
What? Is it possible that all these great sages were not only decadents, but that they were not even wise?
These great sages of all periods should first be examined more closely! Is it possible that they were, everyone of them, a little shaky on their legs, effete, rocky, decadent? Does wisdom perhaps appear on earth after the manner of a crow attracted by a slight smell of carrion?
What? Is it possible that all these great sages were not only decadents, but that they were not even wise?