Macedonian author Quotes

“For what one has to learn to do, we learn by doing.”

“It is no easy task to be good.”

“The unfortunate need people who will be kind to them; the prosperous need people to be kind to.”

“At first he who invented any art that went beyond the common perceptions of man was naturally admired by men, not only because there was something useful in the inventions, but because he was thought wise and superior to the rest. But as more arts were invented, and some were directed to the necessities of life, others to its recreation, the inventors of the latter were always regarded as wiser than the inventors of the former, because their branches of knowledge did not aim at utility.”

“I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.”

“Learning is not child's play; we cannot learn without pain.”

“It must not be supposed that happiness will demand many or great possessions; for self-sufficiency does not depend on excessive abundance, nor does moral conduct, and it is possible to perform noble deeds even without being ruler of land and sea: one can do virtuous acts with quite moderate resources. This may be clearly observed in experience: private citizens do not seem to be less but more given to doing virtuous actions than princes and potentates. It is sufficient then if moderate resources are forthcoming; for a life of virtuous activity will be essentially a happy life.”

“Neither old people nor sour people seem to make friends easily; for there is little that is pleasant in them.”

“Art completes what nature cannot bring to finish. The artist gives us knowledge of nature's unrealized ends.”

“It is the characteristic of the magnanimous man to ask no favor but to be ready to do kindness to others.”

“Purpose ... is held to be most closely connected with virtue, and to be a better token of our character than are even our acts.”

“Happiness does not consist in pastimes and amusements but in virtuous activities.”

“The Life of the intellect is the best and pleasantest for man, because the intellect more than anything else is the man. Thus it will be the happiest life as well.”

“For contemplation is both the highest form of activity (since the intellect is the highest thing in us, and the objects that it apprehends are the highest things that can be known), and also it is the most continuous, because we are more capable of continuous contemplation than we are of any practical activity.”

“Peace is more difficult than war.”

“The greatest victory is over self.”

“We are better able to study our neighbours than ourselves, and their actions than our own.”

“.. for desire is like a wild beast, and anger perverts rulers and the very best of men. Hence law is intelligence without appetition.”

“To learn is a natural pleasure, not confined to philosophers, but common to all men.”

“Whereas happiness is the highest good, being a realization and perfect practice of virtue, which some can attain, while others have little or none of it, the various qualities of men are clearly the reason why there are various kinds of states and many forms of government; for different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life and forms of government.”

“Consider pleasures as they depart, not as they come.”

“Between friends there is no need for justice, but people who are just still need the quality of friendship; and indeed friendliness is considered to be justice in the fullest sense.”

“The man who is truly good and wise will bear with dignity whatever fortune sends, and will always make the best of his circumstances.”

“And of course, the brain is not responsible for any of the sensations at all. The correct view is that the seat and source of sensation is the region of the heart.”

“That judges of important causes should hold office for life is a questionable thing, for the mind grows old as well as the body.”