Greek Life Quotes

The combination of having to cooperate, the pleasure of keeping it going and the demonstration of superiority are at the heart of Greek life. You collaborate and compete at the same time. ~ John Mole

The Oracle at Delphi contained three maxims emblematic of Greek life. "Know yourself." "Nothing in excess." and, "Offer a guarantee and disaster threatens. ~ Anthony Everitt

But, of course, in real life, in the outside world, women do not have equality. They have been judged inferior to men -Adam's rib, his helpmate- with no soul of their own. This has been so since the beginning of Western civilization. Women may have been potent characters in plays by Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles, but in classical Greek life, women were not allowed to leave their houses (except to go to the well or on certain feast days). Their names on all legal documents appear as "the daughter of so and so" or "the wife of so and so", They had almost no rights -"She is my goods, my chattels", as Petruchio says of Kate two thousand years later (Taming of the Shrew,3.2,220). And with the advent of Christianity we began the debate as to whether women had souls in their own right or whether they were an "add-on" to their husbands and fathers. What is clear is that the mother of Jesus had to be both a virgin and totally lacking in sexual desire. And she is the model for all women.
By the time we get to Shakespeare's era, a widow would automatically inherit a third of her husband's possessions if he died (but those possessions became her new husband's if she remarried). Women probably had souls (but it was still being debated), and a woman was a monarch. But in neither classical Greece nor Elizabethan England could a woman portray a woman onstage [...] ~ Tina Packer

There is nothing that has caused me to meditate more on Plato's secrecy and sphinx-like nature, than the happily preserved petit fait that under the pillow of his death-bed there was found no 'Bible,' nor anything Egyptian, Pythagorean, or Platonic - but a book of Aristophanes. How could even Plato have endured life - a Greek life which he repudiated - without an Aristophanes! ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

The tragedy of preparedness has scarcely been handled, save by the Greeks. Life is indeed dangerous, but not in the way morality would have us believe. It is indeed unmanageable, but the essence of it is not a battle. It is unmanageable because it is a romance, and its essence is romantic beauty. ~ E. M. Forster

All ancient philosophers, poets, and moralists agree that love is a striving, an aspiration of the "lower" toward the "higher," the "unformed" toward the "formed," ... "appearance" towards "essence," "ignorance" towards "knowledge," a "mean between fullness and privation," as Plato says in the Symposium. ... The universe is a great chain of dynamic spiritual entities, of forms of being ranging from the "prima materia" up to man - a chain in which the lower always strives for and is attracted by the higher, which never turns back but aspires upward in its turn. This process continues up to the deity, which itself does not love, but represents the eternally unmoving and unifying goal of all these aspirations of love. Too little attention has been given to the peculiar relation between this idea of love and the principle of the "agon," the ambitious contest for the goal, which dominated Greek life in all its aspects - from the Gymnasium and the games to dialectics and the political life of the Greek city states. Even the objects try to surpass each other in a race for victory, in a cosmic "agon" for the deity. Here the prize that will crown the victor is extreme: it is a participation in the essence, knowledge, and abundance of "being." Love is only the dynamic principle, immanent in the universe, which sets in motion this great "agon" of all things for the deity.
Let us compare this with the Christian conception. In that conception there takes place what might be called a ~ Max Scheler

Sisters we gather,
In answer to the call,
To fulfill our destiny
As guardians this side of the wall.

"Where the fabric wears thin,
And our enemy's at hand,
We must thrust him back
Into his own land.

"We honor our legacy
And before the night is done,
Sisters past, present and future
Will unite as one. ~ S.L. Stacy

Get not your friends by bare compliments but by giving them sensible tokens of your love. ~ Socrates

When you start positively changing your mind ... you will start positively changing your life. ~ Timothy Pina

Dear Fisher, I guess this is it, huh? After almost fourteen years together, starting a life of our own on this island, five tours of duty and countless letters I've written you through it all, I finally go out to the mailbox and see something I've always dreamed of: an envelope with your handwriting on it. For one moment, I actually thought you'd changed your mind. That all the awful things you said to me were just your way of coping after everything you'd been through. I was still here, Fisher. I was still here, holding my breath, waiting for you to come back even though you told me you never would. You always said you'd find your way back to me. Out of all the lies you've told me, this one hurts the most. Enclosed you will find the signed divorce papers, as requested. I hope you find what you're looking for. I'm sorry it wasn't me. Lucy ~ Tara Sivec

Christians also speak of the Bible as the revelation of God, indeed as the "Word of God." Yet orthodox Christian theology from ancient times has affirmed that the decisive revelation of God is Jesus. The Bible is "the Word" become words, God's revelation in human words; Jesus is "the Word" become flesh, God's revelation in a human life. Thus Jesus is more decisive than the Bible. ~ Marcus J. Borg

He has a heart so huge, it's kept pumping, kept going long past endurance - even though life has bruised it to a pulp. ~ Nalini Singh

A shift in class values occurs in black life when integration comes and with it the idea that money is the primary marker of individual success, not how one acquires money. Adopting that worldview changed the dynamics of work in black communities. Black men who could show they had money (no matter how they acquired it) could be among the powerful. It was this thinking that allowed hustlers in black communities to be seen as just as hardworking as their Wall Street counterparts. ~ Bell Hooks

Dewey believed that education has a practical function and should not be seen as a series of pointless hurdles to jump over before 'real life' begins. Education isn't a preamble to life; it's part of life, and it exists to solve practical human problems and meet human needs. ~ Gregory Bassham

I have spent my whole life scared, frightened of things that could happen, might happen, might not happen, 50-years I spent like that. Finding myself awake at three in the morning. But you know what? Ever since my diagnosis, I sleep just fine. ~ Walter White

I have played professional baseball for over half my life. From the time I picked up a baseball glove, I did not want to put it down. ~ Bernie Williams

Sometimes we stumble and fall, it doesn't mean we are failures, it simply means we are moving forward. ~ Gift Gugu Mona

All four winds together can't bring the world to me Shadows cast a play of light, so much I want to see Chase the sun around the world, I want to look at life-In the Available Light. I'll go with the wind, I'll stand in the light. ~ Neil Peart

When one is total, life flowers - and that flowering is spirituality. Spirituality is not an attitude, it is not a discipline. It is an outcome of a life lived totally, joyfully, delightfully; of a life of no complaint; of a life lived courageously, intensely. Then this flowering happens. ~ Rajneesh

And as much as I'd like to believe there's a truth beyond illusion, I've come to believe that there's no truth beyond illusion. Because, between 'reality' on the one hand, and the point where the mind strikes reality, there's a middle zone, a rainbow edge where beauty comes into being, where two very different surfaces mingle and blur to provide what life does not: and this is the space where all art exists, and all magic.And - I would argue as well - all love. Or, perhaps more accurately, this middle zone illustrates the fundamental discrepancy of love. Viewed close: a freckled hand against a black coat, an origami frog tipped over on its side. Step away, and the illusion snaps in again: life-more-than-life, never-dying ~ Donna Tartt

The study of law left me unsatisfied, because I did not know the aspects of life which it serves. I perceived only the intricate mental juggling with fictions that did not interest me. ~ Karl Jaspers

Towers' is the name of the dormitory that I lived in in college; it's made up of these two towers – North and South – my girlfriend lived in one and I lived in the other. It's about falling in love, but also about what happens when you've long fallen out of love and those reminders are still there. You drive by them, these two buildings, and you look, and you realise that we really built that up. That we really built that love into these things, and for a long time afterward looking at them really made me feel sad; to see these empty buildings that I don't go in to anymore. But then, as time goes on, they start to become kind of joyous in their own way: you can look at them and think 'that love was great and these buildings still stand tall'. But there's also an element of the fact that they're just buildings – they're gonna fall down one day, and they're not that important because there's new love in your life and you've got to break things down that get built up. ~ Justin Vernon

We all love to take responsibility for success and happiness. Hell, we often fight over who gets to be responsible for success and happiness. But taking responsibility for our problems is far more important, because that's where the real learning comes from. That's where the real-life improvement comes from. To ~ Mark Manson

I felt a tightening in my chest, a sharp spike of intense sadness-almost like nostalgia, except it was for a life I never had. ~ Katie Alender

The two toughest lessons to learn In life are "LET GO" & "LETs GO..! ~ Sujit Lalwani

I knew the moment it happened, it was a miracle. I could have been kissing her when she threw up. It would have scarred me for life. I may never have recovered. ~ M. Night Shyamalan

As a Buddhist, I see no distinction between religious practice and daily life. Religious practice is a twenty-four hour occupation. ~ Dalai Lama XIV

I've known no man save you. I can't imagine my life without you aggravating me." Mara
"I aggravate you?" Devyl
"Deed you do. All the time." Mara ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon

Above everything else, genuinely love yourself first. Self-love is powerful and it's the best love that you will ever have. When you love who YOU are, your relationships will be healthier and your life will be happier. Self-love sets the standard in how we allow others to treat us and how we treat ourselves. Your happiness and well-being is important. Protect it by always valuing who you are! ~ Stephanie Lahart

If you are asked to achieve an ending somehow, this also means that you are receiving an order to begin anew; a new beginning is always possible - who should refuse it? (Letters on Life) ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Friends are the family that had other mothers. To really live a fulfilled life, hold your friends close and do the work to stay connected. ~ Tracy A. Malone

Himi... Even if I have to keep taking in the pain and the wounds, it'll be alright... No matter how much I bleed or how ruthless I become...as long as you come back, I'll be fine with it... As long as you come back, I can willingly give up my life for you... So please let Himi come back to me... Let my Himi come back... ~ Yuki Shimizu

In other words, how "missional" you are is largely determined by the extent to which your people model the life, activities, and words of Jesus. ~ Hugh Halter

No matter how many miles I move away, my love will always remain within the boundary of your heart
Lines from Love Vs Destiny ... ~ Atul Purohit

Priests, altars, victims, swam before my sight. ~ Edmund Smith

Sometimes life seems so painful it hurts even to move my arms. ~ Sara Paretsky

At moments of departure and a change of life, people capable of reflecting on their actions usually get into a serious state of mind. At these moments they usually take stock of the past and make plans for the future. ~ Leo Tolstoy

Emotional and psychological pain were to become, perhaps, the most powerful force in molding the course of my life. For some people, pain and hurt breed bitterness and cynicism. For others it causes them to look deeply into themselves and into life itself in an attempt to understand the meaning beneath seemingly capricious or arbitrary happenings. ~ Joseph Girzone

Live without expectations. Don't set parameters on your life by telling yourself that something can only be enjoyed if it is a certain way. Allow life to surprise you. Keep an open mind and enjoy all of life's treasures. ~ Avina Celeste

Lay hold of life with both hands, whenever thou mayest seize it, it is interesting. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

I've never heard Daft Punk; I've never heard a track of theirs in my life. They're the two guys with motorcycle helmets on? ~ Henry Rollins

Passion is not what gives you bliss or makes you happy 24/7, but what you're willing to suffer for, what you genuinely believe to be worth the sacrifice. ~ Justine Musk

They were both fomidable, but they were also the two people he cared most about in the world-Worlds-and he just wanted to carry them safley forward to the future he imagined, in which no one's life was at stake and the hardest decision of any given day might be what to eat for breakfast, or where to make love. ~ Laini Taylor

Maybe you shouldn't talk about anal sex behind our backs," I retort, able to deduce the subject of their conversations.
"Fine, I'll talk about it to your face," Lo challenges. "I hear you like it in the ass." He raises his can of Fizz Life to me. "Cheers. ~ Krista Ritchie

We also want to leave our own area behind, our domestic world so well regulated day to day; we are drawn by the desire no longer to be at home and therefore no longer to be ourselves. We want to interrupt a life where we merely exist, in order to live more. ~ Stefan Zweig

For a bowl of water give a goodly meal; For a kindly greeting bow thou down with zeal; For a simple penny pay thou back with gold; If thy life be rescued, life do not withhold. Thus the words and actions of the wise regard; Every little service tenfold they reward. But the truly noble know all men as one, And return with gladness good for evil done. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Long has been this road called life. Every time you venture out in this road, remember. Home is within. Home is in you. ~ Minhal Mehdi

I think George R. R. Martin made fantasy grow up. He brought a level of reality into the storytelling where you realize the good guys don't always win and anyone can die, because that's how life works. Bringing that level of reality into the story I think forced the genre to mature in a lot of ways that it hadn't prior. ~ Peter V. Brett

They tell you that space is emptiness, nothingness - the void. They suggest that space, empty space, is something negative. I found out that it's not! Space lives, Scott. Nothingness, emptiness, has a life all its own. ~ Nicholas Fisk

To live fully we would need to let go of our fear of dying. That fear can only be addressed by the love of living. We have a long history in this nation of believing that to be too celebratory is dangerous, that being optimistic is foolhardy, hence our difficulty in celebrating life, in teaching our children and ourselves how to love life. ~ Bell Hooks

Mothers, stay close to your daughters. Earn and deserve their love and respect. Be united with their father in the rearing of your children. Do nothing in your life to cause your daughters to stumble because of your example. ~ Ezra Taft Benson

I don't run away from the idea of philosophy as seductive. I want the sentences to be prose but intense prose, to show that, like life, thinking is not linear. ~ Stanley Cavell

What this says on a spiritual level is that we can never really know what direction life will take, what changes those small butterfly-flutters of intention and action might cause in our destiny. And at the same time, it also tells us that we can never truly know the mind of God. We can never fully understand the how, where, and when of anything, even something as simple as boiling water. We have to surrender to uncertainty, while appreciating its intricate beauty. ~ Deepak Chopra

We are concerned here only with the imposition of capital punishment for the crime of murder, and when a life has been taken deliberately by the offender, we cannot say that the punishment is invariably disproportionate to the crime. It is an extreme sanction suitable to the most extreme of crimes. ~ Potter Stewart

Be assured that any hurt to your spirit will pass in time. It is the nature of Death to take, but the nature of Life to give. ~ Garth Nix