Devtome is down for me right now, not sure what's going on. So I'm just going to use this thread to continue what I was doing
Add your own if you want
“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)