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Quotes by Greek Authors

"Art is the fatal net which catches these strange moments on the wing like mysterious butterflies, fleeing the innocence and distraction of common men."

"The highest point of philosophy is to be both wise and simple; this is the angelic life."

"Close alliances with despots are never safe for free states."

"Hide our ignorance as we will, an evening of wine soon reveals it."

"Ah, yes, superstition: it would appear to be cowardice in face of the supernatural."

"In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can."

"UNICEF has made the most rewarding thing that I have ever done in my life."

"Control thy passions lest they take vengence on thee."

"One may define flattery as a base companionship which is most advantageous to the flatterer."

"The best protection for the people is not necessarily to believe everything people tell them."

"Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist."

"First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do."

"The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things."

"A likely impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility. The story should never be made up of improbable incidents, there should be nothing of the sort in it."

"I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing."

"All men's souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine."

"It is this simplicity that makes the uneducated more effective than the educated when addressing popular audiences-makes them, as the poets tell us, 'charm the crowd's ears more finely.' Educated men lay down broad general principles; uneducated men argue from common knowledge and draw obvious conclusions."

"Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy."

"Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises."

"To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man."

"Hence poetry is something more philosophic and of graver import than history, since its statements are rather of the nature of universals, whereas those of history are singulars."
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