History

"Τοιῷδε φωτί (κατ᾽ Αἰσχύλον) τίς ξυμβήσεται; τίν᾿ ἀντιτάξω τῷδε; τίς φερέγγυος."

"Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919); 13th ed. (1955)"

"Τὸν δὲ υἱὸν ἐντρυφῶντα τῇ μητρὶ καὶ δι᾿ ἐκείνην αὐτῷ σκώπτων ἔλεγε πλεῖστον τῶν Ἑλλήνων δύνασθαι· τοῖς μὲν γὰρ Ἕλλησιν ἐπιτάττειν Ἀθηναίους, Ἀθηναίοις δ᾿ αὐτόν, αὐτῷ δὲ τὴν ἐκείνου μητέρα, τῇ μητρὶ δ᾿ ἐκεῖνον."

"Aubrey Stewart; George Long, Plutarch's Lives, 4 vols. (1892–1894); digitised for , vols. 1, 2, 3, 4"

"Πρὸς δέ τινα τῶν καλῶν γεγονότων, Ἀντιφάτην, ὑπερηφάνως αὐτῷ κεχρημένον πρότερον, ὕστερον δὲ θεραπεύοντα διὰ τὴν δόξαν, "Ὦ μειράκιον," εἶπεν, "ὀψὲ μέν, ἀμφότεροι δ᾿ ἅμα νοῦν ἐσχήκαμεν.""

"Αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν Θεμιστοκλέα φασὶν ἤδη μέγαν ὄντα καὶ θεραπευόμενον ὑπὸ πολλῶν λαμπρᾶς ποτε τραπέζης αὐτῷ παρατεθείσης πρὸς τοὺς παῖδας εἰπεῖν· "Ὦ παῖδες, ἀπωλόμεθα ἄν, εἰ μὴ ἀπωλόμεθα.""

"Τοῦ δὲ Σεριφίου πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰπόντος, ὡς οὐ δι᾿ αὑτὸν ἔσχηκε δόξαν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν πόλιν, "Ἀληθῆ λέγεις," εἶπεν, "ἀλλ᾿ οὔτ᾿ ἂν ἐγὼ Σερίφιος ὢν ἐγενόμην ἔνδοξος, οὔτε σὺ Ἀθηναῖος.""

"Ὁ δὲ λογοποιὸς Αἴσωπος, ἐτύγχανε γὰρ εἰς Σάρδεις μετάπεμπτος γεγονὼς ὑπὸ Κροίσου καὶ τιμώμενος, ἠχθέσθη τῷ Σόλωνι μηδεμιᾶς τυχόντι φιλανθρωπίας· καὶ προτρέπων αὐτόν, "Ὦ Σόλων," ἔφη, "τοῖς βασιλεῦσι δεῖ ὡς ἥκιστα ἢ ὡς ἥδιστα ὁμιλεῖν." καὶ ὁ Σόλων, "Μὰ Δί᾿," εἶπεν, "ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ἥκιστα ἢ ὡς ἄριστα.""

"John and William Langhorne, Plutarch's Lives, 6 vols. (1770–1774); digitised for , vol. 1"

"Ὦ μῆτερ, τήμερον ἢ ἀρχιερέα τὸν υἱὸν ἢ φυγάδα ὄψει."

"Τὸ ἐπανόρθωμα τῆς ἀλγηδόνος οὐκ ἄξιον."

"W. F. H. King, Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), Caesar, 74, 193, 219, 239, 1821, 1967, 2885; Pelopidas, 1998; Pericles, 2105; Pompey, 1581; Pyrrhus, 2907; Solon, 1985"

"Βέλτιόν ἐστιν ἅπαξ ἀποθανεῖν ἢ ἀεὶ προσδοκᾶν."

"Authority and place demonstrate and try the tempers of men, by moving every passion and discovering every frailty."

"Οὐκοῦν εἰς αὔριον' ἔφη, τὰ σπουδαῖα."

"Ἐβουλόμην παρὰ τούτοις εἶναι μᾶλλον πρῶτος ἢ παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις δεύτερος."

"Νέκρους οὐ δάκνειν."

"Ἀνερρίφθω κύβος."

"Ἀνάχαρσιν μὲν εἰς Ἀθήνας φασὶν ἐπὶ τὴν Σόλωνος οἰκίαν ἐλθόντα κόπτειν, καὶ λέγειν ὡς ξένος ὢν ἀφῖκται φιλίαν ποιησόμενος καὶ ξενίαν πρὸς αὐτόν. ἀποκριναμένου δὲ τοῦ Σόλωνος ὡς οἴκοι βέλτιόν ἐστι ποιεῖσθαι φιλίας, "Οὐκοῦν," φάναι τὸν Ἀνάχαρσιν, "αὐτὸς ὢν οἴκοι σὺ ποίησαι φιλίαν καὶ ξενίαν πρὸς ἡμᾶς.""

"Ἐγὼ δ᾽ ἐν πολλῷ χρόνῳ."

"Καίσαρα φέρεις, καὶ τὴν Καίσαρος τύχην."

"... εἰς ὄψιν ἐλθόντος αὐτοῦ καὶ πάλιν προσκυνήσαντος, ἀσπασάμενος καὶ προσειπὼν φιλοφρόνως ὁ βασιλεύς, ἤδη μὲν ἔφησεν αὐτῷ διακόσια τάλαντα ὀφείλειν· κομίσαντα γὰρ αὑτὸν ἀπολήψεσθαι δικαίως τὸ ἐπικηρυχθὲν τῷ ἀγαγόντι· πολλῷ δὲ πλείω τούτων ὑπισχνεῖτο καὶ παρεθάρρυνε καὶ λέγειν ἐδίδου περὶ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν, ἃ βούλοιτο, παρρησιαζόμενον. Ὁ δὲ Θεμιστοκλῆς ἀπεκρίνατο, τὸν λόγον ἐοικέναι τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τοῖς ποικίλοις στρώμασιν· ὡς γὰρ ἐκεῖνα καὶ τοῦτον ἐκτεινόμενον μὲν ἐπιδείκνυσθαι τὰ εἴδη, συστελλόμενον δὲ κρύπτειν καὶ διαφθείρειν· ὅθεν αὐτῷ χρόνου δεῖν."

"Ἦλθον, εἶδον, ἐνίκησα."

"Ἂν ἔτι μίαν μάχην Ῥωμαίους νικήσωμεν, ἀπολούμεθα παντελῶς."

"᾿Αβρότονον Θρήϊσσα γυνὴ γένος· ἀλλὰ τεκέσθαι τὸν μέγαν Ἕλλησιν φημι Θεμιστοκλέα."

"Πολλῶν δὲ τότε τοῖς ἀρίστοις ἄθλων γενομένων Ἡρόδωρος μὲν οὐδενὸς οἴεται τὸν Θησέα μετασχεῖν, ἀλλὰ μόνοις Λαπίθαις τῆς κενταυρομαχίας· ἕτεροι δὲ καὶ μετὰ Ἰάσονος ἐν Κόλχοις γενέσθαι καὶ Μελεάγρῳ συνεξελεῖν τὸν κάπρον· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο παροιμίαν εἶναι τὴν "Οὐκ ἄνευ Θησέως·" αὐτὸν μέντοι μηδενὸς συμμάχου δεηθέντα πολλοὺς καὶ καλοὺς ἄθλους κατεργάσασθαι, καὶ τὸν "Ἄλλος οὗτος Ἡρακλῆς" λόγον ἐπ᾿ ἐκείνου κρατῆσαι."

"The stone age did not end because the world ran out of stones, and the oil age will not end because we run out of oil."

"In the Neolithic Age savage warfare did I wage For food and fame and woolly horses’ pelt. I was singer to my clan in that dim, red Dawn of Man, And I sang of all we fought and feared and felt. * * * * * * * Here’s my wisdom for your use, as I learned it when the moose And the reindeer roamed where Paris roars to-night:— ‘There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays, ‘And—every—single—one—of—them—is—right!’"

"A sheep that had no wool saw horses, one of them pulling a heavy wagon, one carrying a big load, and one carrying a man quickly. The sheep said to the horses: "My heart pains me, seeing a man driving horses." The horses said: "Listen, sheep, our hearts pain us when we see this: a man, the master, makes the wool of the sheep into a warm garment for himself. And the sheep has no wool." Having heard this, the sheep fled into the plain."

"When first I whispered words of love, When first you turned aside to hear, The wingèd griffin flew above, The mammoth gaily gamboll’d near; I wore the latest thing in skins Your dock-leaf dress had just been mended And fastened-up with fishes' fins— The whole effect was really splendid."

"‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings; Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away."

"Piety, and fear, Religion to the gods, peace, justice, truth, Domestic awe, night-rest, and neighbourhood, Instruction, manners, mysteries, and trades, Degrees, observances, customs, and laws, Decline to your confounding contraries, And let confusion live!"

"We wonder,—and some Hunter may express Wonder like ours, when thro’ the wilderness Where London stood, holding the Wolf in chace, He meets some fragment huge, and stops to guess What powerful but unrecorded race Once dwelt in that annihilated place."

"Far-call’d our navies melt away— On dune and headland sinks the fire— Lo, all our pomp of yesterday Is one with Nineveh and Tyre! Judge of the Nations, spare us yet, Lest we forget, lest we forget!"

"Solomon, where is thy throne? It is gone in the wind. Babylon, where is thy might? It is gone in the wind. Like the swift shadows of noon, like the dreams of the blind, Vanish the glories and pomps of the earth in the wind."

"Whoever has read the Weekly knows I hold abortion (except to save the life of the mother) to be just as much murder as the killing of a person after birth is murder."

"I wish to say my word on the theme of the day — Abortion and the Abortionists. . . Abortion [is]one of the fixed institutions of the country, one of the marked characteristics of the age, one of the indicative symptoms of the ripening and the rottening of our prevalent state of society! Who proposes to disturb Madame Restel [underground abortion practitioner]? Who really wants that there should be no opportunity to secure an abortion under peculiarly trying circumstances? . . . But the great revenue of these practitioners is from the married women among the wealthy. They have become unfit to have children, and abortion is the sewerage for this wretched stagnation of feminine life. . . . Abortion before marriage and especially after marriage are the rule rather than the exception—in the wealthy and fashionable classes, and to a great extent among workingwomen who say they 'can’t afford to have children'. . . Abortion is only a symptom of a more deep-seated disorder of the social state. It cannot be put down by law. Normally the mother of ten children is as healthy, and may be as youthful and beautiful, as a healthy maiden. Child-bearing is not a disease, but a beautiful office of nature. But to our faded-out, sickly, exhausted type of women, it is a fearful ordeal. Nearly every child born is an unwelcome guest. Abortion is the choice of evils for such women."

"We are aware that many women attempt to excuse themselves for procuring abortions, upon the ground that it is not murder. But the fact of resort to so weak an argument only shows the more palpably that they fully realize the enormity of the crime. Is it not equally destroying the would-be future oak to crush the sprout before it pushes its head above the sod, as to cut down the sapling, or cut down the tree? Is it not equally to destroy life, to crush it in the very germ, and to take it when the germ has evolved to any given point in its line of development?"

"The rights of children as individuals begin while yet they remain the foetus."

"Child murderers practice their profession without let or hindrance, and open infant butcheries unquestioned...Is there no remedy for all this ante-natal child murder?...Perhaps there will come a time when...an unmarried mother will not be despised because of her motherhood...and when the right of the unborn to be born will not be denied or interfered with."

"Abortion is also a practice which spreads damnation world-wide. . . When a woman becomes conscious that she is pregnant, and a desire comes up in her heart to shirk the duties it involves, that moment the fetal life is the unloved, the unwished child. Is it to be wondered at that there are so many undutiful children--so many who instinctively feel that they are "encumbrances" rather than the beautiful necessities of the home? What true mother's heart but bounds with pride and joy when she sees the beauteous results of her constructive work? Why should she not also feel happiness when she realizes that she is performing that constructive process? Is it to be wondered at that so many children lacking all confidence in themselves and so foolishly diffident that it follows them through life, when we consider the conduct of women during pregnancy? It should be the pride of every woman to be the willing, the anxious, the contented mother, and if she be so under the guidance of the knowledge we deem essential, she will never have cause to regret that she fulfilled the duties of maternity. All practices which degenerate the character of children should be discountenanced by every humanitarian, and women encouraged to wisely and perfectly mold and fashion the life which they shall give to the world."

"Men must no longer insult all womanhood by saying that freedom means the degradation of woman. Every woman knows if she were free, she would never bear an unwished-for child, nor think of murdering one before its birth."

"Infanticide is on the increase to an extent inconceivable. Nor is it confined to the cities by any means. Androscoggin County in Maine is largely a rural district, but a recent Medical Convention there unfolded a fearful condition of society in relation to this subject. Dr. Oaks made the remark that, according to the best estimate he could make, there were four hundred murders annually produced by abortion in that county alone....There must be a remedy for such a crying evil as this. But where shall it be found, at least where begin, if not in the complete enfranchisement and elevation of woman? Forced maternity, not out of legal marriage but within it, must lie at the bottom of a vast proportion of such revolting outrages against the laws of nature and our common humanity."

"[This] subject lies deeper down in woman’s wrongs than any other...I hesitate not to assert that most of (the responsibility for) this crime lies at the door of the male sex."

"All the articles on this subject that I have read have been from men. They denounce women as alone guilty, and never include man in any plans for the remedy. . . Guilty? Yes. No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed [abortion]. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; But oh, thrice guilty is he who drove her to the desperation which impelled her to the crime! ...We want prevention, not merely punishment. We must reach the root of the evil [abortion]...It is practiced by those whose inmost souls revolt from the dreadful deed."

"With consistency, beautiful and undeviating, human life, from its commencement to its close, is protected by the common law. In the contemplation of law, life begins when the infant is first able to stir in the womb. By the law, life is protected not only from immediate destruction, but from every degree of actual violence, and, in some cases, from every degree of danger."

"O thou, whose eyes were closed in death’s pale night, Ere fate revealed thee to my aching sight; Ambiguous something, by no standard fixed, Frail span, of naught and of existence mixed; Embryo, imperfect as my tort’ring thought, Sad outcast of existence and of naught; Thou, who to guilty love first ow’st thy frame, Whom guilty honour kills to hide its shame; Dire offspring! formed by love’s too pleasing pow’r! Honour’s dire victim in a luckless hour! Soften the pangs that still revenge thy doom: Nor, from the dark abyss of nature’s womb, Where back I cast thee, let revolving time Call up past scenes to aggravate my crime. Two adverse tyrants ruled thy wayward fate, Thyself a helpless victim to their hate; Love, spite of honour’s dictates, gave thee breath; Honour, in spite of love, pronounced thy death."

"Women...sacrificing to lasciviousness the parental affection...either destroy the embryo in the womb, or cast if off when born. Nature in every thing demands respect, and those who violate her laws seldom violate them with impunity."

"When a man steals to satisfy hunger, we may safely conclude that there is something wrong in society. So when a woman destroys the life of her unborn child, it is an evidence that either by education or circumstances she has been greatly wronged."

"We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, in this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer."