John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
Page 945
| Diogenes Laërtius. (fl. early 3d cent.) (continued) |
| 9103 |
| It was a common saying of Myson that men ought not to investigate things from words, but words from things; for that things are not made for the sake of words, but words for things. |
| Myson. iii. |
| 9104 |
| Epimenides was sent by his father into the field to look for a sheep, turned out of the road at mid-day and lay down in a certain cave and fell asleep, and slept there fifty-seven years; and after that, when awake, he went on looking for the sheep, thinking that he had been taking a short nap. 1 |
| Epimenides. ii. |
| 9105 |
| There are many marvellous stories told of Pherecydes. For it is said that he was walking along the seashore at Samos, and that seeing a ship sailing by with a fair wind, he said that it would soon sink; and presently it sank before his eyes. At another time he was drinking some water which had been drawn up out of a well, and he foretold that within three days there would be an earthquake; and there was one. |
| Pherecydes. ii. |
| 9106 |
| Anaximander used to assert that the primary cause of all things was the Infinite,—not defining exactly whether he meant air or water or anything else. |
| Anaximander. ii. |
| 9107 |
| Anaxagoras said to a man who was grieving because he was dying in a foreign land, “The descent to Hades is the same from every place.” |
| Anaxagoras. vi. |
| 9108 |
| Aristophanes turns Socrates into ridicule in his comedies, as making the worse appear the better reason. 2 |
| Socrates. v. |
| 9109 |
| Often when he was looking on at auctions he would say, “How many things there are which I do not need!” |
| Socrates. x. |
| 9110 |
| Socrates said, “Those who want fewest things are nearest to the gods.” |
| Socrates. xi. |
| Note 1. The story of Rip van Winkle. [back] |
| Note 2. See Milton, Quotation 41. [back] |