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

Such a sorry growth art thou; thou hast blossomed too soon: the winter cold will wither thee away!

First of all, condemn the life thou art now leading: but

Above all avoid speaking of persons, either in way of praise or blame, or comparison.

He surely knew not my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these only!

Never call yourself a Philosopher

Thus at a banquet, do not discuss how people ought to eat; but eat as you ought. Remember that Socrates thus entirely avoided ostentation.

But what is it that I desire? To understand Nature, and to follow her!

Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.

it some time after, because they were then still young; that I knew Apollonius, Rusticus, Maximus;

He is saying he'd been schooled in math, history, religion, etc

Remember how long thou hast been putting off these things, and how often thou hast received an opportunity from the gods, and yet dost not use it.

perceive of what universe thou art a part,

that a limit of time is fixe...

use for clearing away the clouds from thy mind, it will go and thou wilt go, a...

perfect and simple dignity,

if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last, laying aside all carelessness and passionate

he is able to live a life which flows in quiet, and is like the existence of the gods; for the gods on their part will require nothing more from him who observes these things.

Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around. But

offence which is committed with pleasure is more blameable than that

nor let studied ornament set off thy thoughts,

be not either a man of many words, or busy

let the deity which is in thee be the guardian of...

Never value anything as profitable to thyself which shall compel thee to break thy promise, to lose thy self-respect, to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to act the hypocrite, to desire anything which needs walls and curtains:

every man lives only this present time, which is an indivisible point, and that all the rest of his life is either past or it is uncertain. Short then is the time which every man lives, and small the nook of the earth where he lives; and short too the longest posthumous fame, and even this only continued by a succession of poor human beings, who will very soon die, and who know not even themselves, much less him who died long ago.

'vanity, a chasung after wind as Solomon says

and throwing away idle hopes, come to thy own aid, if thou carest at all for thyself, while it is in thy power.

to be pulled by the strings of desire belongs both to wild beasts and to men who have made themselves into women, and to a Phalaris and a Nero: and to have the intelligence that guides to the things which appear suitable belongs also to those who do not believe in the gods, and who betray their country, and do their impure deeds when they have shut the doors.

perfectly reconciled to his lot.

But perhaps thou art dissatisfied with that which is assigned to thee out of the universe. —

that within a very short time both thou and he will be dead; and soon not even your names will be left behind.

Within ten days thou wilt seem a god to those to whom thou art now a beast and an ape, if thou wilt return to thy principles and the worship of reason.

That which is really beautiful has no need of anything;

Which of these things is beautiful because it is praised, or spoiled by being blamed? Is such a thing as an emerald made worse than it was, if it is not praised? Or gold, ivory, purple, a lyre, a little knife, a flower, a shrub? If souls continue to exist, how does the air contain them

But how does the earth contain the bodies of those who have been buried from time so remote? For as here the mutation of these bodies after a certain continuance, whatever it may be, and...

Either it is a well-arranged universe or a chaos huddled together, but still a universe.

Willingly give thyself up to Clotho, one of the Fates, allowing her to spin thy thread into whatever things she pleases.

the nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things which are and to make new things like them.

To conclude, always observe how ephemeral and worthless human things are,

what was yesterday a little mucus to-morrow will be a mummy or ashes.

but that to bear it nobly is good fortune.

IN THE morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present — I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world? Or have I been made for this, to lie in the bed-clothes and keep myself warm?

But this is more pleasant. — Dost thou exist then to take thy pleasure, and not at all for action or exertion? Dost thou not see the little plants, the little birds, the ants, the spiders, the bees working together to put in order their several parts of the universe? And art thou unwilling to do the work of a human being, and dost thou not make haste to do that which is according to thy nature?

however nature has fixed bounds to this too: she has fixed bounds both to eating and drinking, and yet thou goest beyond these bo...

So thou lovest not thyself, for if thou didst, thou wouldst love thy...

it is characteristic of the social animal to perceive that he is working in a social manner, and indeed to wish that his social partner also should perceive it. — It

Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.

But the things which have life are superior to those which have not life, and of those which have life the superior are those which have reason.

That which does no harm to the state, does no harm to the citizen.

if the state is not harmed by this, neither am I harmed. But

Does another do me wrong? Let him look to it. He has his own disposition, his own activity. I now have what the universal nature wills

Art thou angry with him whose armpits stink? Art thou angry with him whose mouth smells foul? What good will this danger do thee? He has such a mouth, he has such arm-pits: it is necessary that such an emanation must come from such things —

Soon, very soon, thou wilt be ashes, or a skeleton, and either a name or not even a name; but name is sound and echo.