The Complete Harvard Classics - ALL 71 Volumes: The Five Foot Shelf & The Shelf of Fiction: The Famous Anthology of the Greatest Works of World Literature

by Charles William Eliot

and these must be the souls, not of the good, but of the evil, which are compelled to wander about such places in

former evil way of life;

Misanthropy arises out of the too great confidence of inexperience;—you trust a man and think him altogether true and sound and faithful, and then in a little while he turns out to be false and knavish; and then another and another, and when this has happened several times to a man, especially when it happens among those whom he deems to be his own most trusted and familiar friends, and he has often quarreled with them, he at last hates all men, and believes that no one has any good in him at all.

that few are the good and few the evil, and that the great majority are in the interval between them.

that nothing is more uncommon than a very large or very small man; and this applies generally to all extremes, whether of great and small, or swift and slow, or fair and foul, or black and white: and whether the instances you

Now the partisan, when he is engaged in a dispute, cares nothing about the rights of the question, but is anxious only to convince his hearers of his own assertions.

I am rather seeking to convince myself; to convince my hearers is a secondary matter with me. And do but see how much I gain by the argument. For

Endure, my heart; far worse hast thou endured!'

her entrance into the human form may be a sort of disease which is the beginning of dissolution, and may at last, after the toils of life are over, end in that which is called death.

department of philosophy which is called the investigation of nature; to

'through a glass darkly,'

Scripture?

Also I believe that the earth is very vast, and that we who dwell in the region extending from the river Phasis to the Pillars of Heracles inhabit a small portion only about the sea, like ants or frogs about a marsh, and that there are other inhabitants of many other like places; for

But the fact is, that owing to our feebleness and sluggishness we are prevented from reaching the surface of the air: for if any man could arrive at the exterior limit, or take the wings of a bird and come to the top, then like a fish who puts his head out of the water and sees this world, he would see a world beyond; and, if the nature of man could sustain the sight, he would acknowledge that this other world was the place of the true heaven and the true light and the true earth. For

earth, and of the things which are around the earth; and there are divers regions in the hollows on the face of the globe everywhere,

You know yourself what you are worth in your own eyes; and at what price you will sell yourself. For men sell themselves at various prices.

Why then do you bid me become even as the multitude? Then were I no longer the purple."

He paid however this price for the lamp, that in exchange for it he consented to become a thief: in exchange for it, to become faithless. XIII Table of Contents But God hath introduced Man to be a spectator of Himself and of His works; and not a spectator only, but also an interpreter of them.

See then that ye die not without being spectators of these things.

what remains for men to do but as Socrates did:—never, when asked one's country, to answer, "I am an Athenian or a Corinthian," but "I am a citizen of the world."

that from God have descended the germs of life,

True instruction is this:—to learn to wish that each thing should come to pass as it does.

when thou losest any outward thing, what thou gainest in its stead; and if this be the more precious, say not, I have suffered loss.

You are impatient and hard to please.

Thus Socrates was not in prison, since he was there with his own consent.

Knowest thou what a speck thou art in comparison with the Universe?—-That

What Did he know of it?

"But I shall have a golden wreath to wear." "If you must have a wreath, get a wreath of roses and put it on; you will look more elegant!"

The beginning of philosophy is to know the condition of one's own mind. If a man recognises that this is in a weakly state, he will not then want to apply it to questions of the greatest

Whereas they should have stopped to consider their capacity.

but if a raven by its croaking bears thee any sign, it is not the raven but God that sends the sign through the raven;

It was the first and most striking characteristic of Socrates never to become heated in discourse, never to utter an injurious or insulting word—on the contrary,

the present case the mere desire to be wise and good is not enough. It is

But there are some few who come only to look at the fair, to inquire how and why it is being held, upon what authority and with what object.

that these are nothing but fodder! Some

this Fabric, so fair, so vast, should be administered in order so harmonious, without a purpose and by blind chance? There

And who are we that are His children and what work were we born to perform? Have we any close connection or relation with Him or not?

fool for my friend! There is nothing more

why didst thou write thyself down a philosopher, when thou mightest have written what was the fact, namely, "I have made one or two Compendiums, I have read some works of Chrysippus, and I have not even touched the hem of Philosophy's robe!"

a man would pursue Philosophy, his first task is to throw away conceit. For it is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he has a conceit that he already knows.

But a man who meets a man is one who learns the other's mind, and lets him see his in turn. Learn my mind—show me yours; and then go and say that you met me. Let us try each other; if

am richer than you: I am not racked with anxiety as to what Cæsar may think of me; I flatter none on that

your vessels may be of gold, but your reason, your principles, your accepted views, your inclinations, your desires are of earthenware.

However he may treat me, I must deal rightly by him. This is what lies with me, what none can hinder.

dwell with himself alone,

So should we also be able to converse with ourselves, to need none else beside, to

A live coal placed next a dead one will either kindle that or be quenched by it.

Does a Philosopher apply to people to come and hear him? does he not rather, of his own nature, attract those that will be benefited by him—like the sun that warms, the food that sustains them? What Physician applies to men to come and be healed?

Reflect that the chief source of all evils to Man, and of baseness and cowardice, is not death, but the fear of death.

Wherefore those that knew not my purpose marvelled how it came about,

And what harm that the philosopher should be known by his acts, instead of mere outward signs and symbols?"

First study to conceal what thou art; seek wisdom a little while unto thyself. Thus