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Prov. 13. Those who know themselves are wise.
Sir. 13. Observe and pay close attention, because you walk with your own fall.
Basil. A precise understanding of yourself provides you with sufficient guidance towards the knowledge of God.
Remembering your nature, you will never be puffed up; and you will remember yourself if you pay attention to yourself.
You have suffered, O man, what you accuse; and while you carefully see another's evil, you nowhere consider your own shame.
For indeed it seems to be the most difficult of all things, to know oneself. For not only does the eye, which sees external things, not use its sight upon itself; but also our own mind, which keenly perceives another's sin, is slow to recognize its own faults.
Theologian. Search yourself more than the things of your neighbors. For in the one case, you yourself will profit; in the other, your neighbors. Know yourself, O best one, from whence and who you were made. Easily then might you attain the archetypal beauty. Didymus. For one to know that he is ignorant, is wisdom; just as also to know that he has done wrong,
is righteousness.
Chrysostom. He most of all knows himself, who considers himself to be nothing. (969) Clement. If you wish to know God, first know yourself. Antiphanes. If you are mortal, O best one, think mortal thoughts also. Demosthenes. I think the future is unknown to all men; and small moments, of great matters
become the causes. Therefore one must be moderate in prosperity, and be seen to foresee the future.
Heraclitus. Heraclitus, being young, became wiser than all, because he knew himself to be nothing.
Socrates. Socrates thought that he knew nothing, except this very thing, that he knows nothing; but that the rest of men do not even know this.
Those who are severely feverish are naturally corrupted in appetite and strength; while those dwelling in palaces, in mind and character, unless they frequently say to themselves, 'Know thyself.'
Philemon. Being a man, know this, and you will remain so always. Sotades. Even if you are a king, listen as a mortal. If you spit far, you are powerful with excess phlegm.
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Παροιμ. ιγ΄. Οἱ ἑαυτῶν ἐπιγνώμονες, σοφοί.
Σιρ. ιγ´. Συντήρησον καί πρόσεχε σφοδρῶς, ὅτι μετά τῆς πτώσεώς σου περιπατεῖς.
Βασιλείου. Ἠ ἀκριβής σαυτοῦ κατανόησις αὐτάρκη σοι παρέχει χειραγωγίαν πρός τήν ἔννοιαν τοῦ Θεοῦ.
Μεμνημένος τῆς φύσεως, οὐκ ἐπαρθήσῃ ποτέ· μεμνήσῃ δέ ἑαυτοῦ ἐάν προσέχῃς σαυτόν.
Ἔπαθες, ἄνθρωπε, ὅ ἐγκαλεῖς· καί τό μέν ἀλλότριον κακόν ἐπιμελῶς βλέπεις, τό δέ σαυτοῦ αἰσχρόν οὐδαμοῦ τιθεῖς.
Τῷ ὄντι γάρ ἔοικε πάντων εἶναι χαλεπώτατον, ἑαυτόν ἐπιγνῶναι. Οὐ γάρ μόνος ὀφθαλμός τά ἔξω βλέπων ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτόν οὐ κέχρηται τῷ ὁρᾷν· ἀλλά καί αὐτός ἡμῶν ὁ νοῦς, ὀξέως τό ἀλλότριον ἁμάρτημα καταβλέπων, βραδύς ἐστι πρός τήν τῶν οἰκείων ἐλαττωμάτων ἐπίγνωσιν.
Θεολογ. Ἐρεύνα σαυτόν πλεῖον, ἤ τά τῶν πέλας. Τῷ μέν γάρ αὐτός κερδανεῖς, τῷ δ᾿ οἱ πέλας. Γνῶθι σεαυτόν, ἄριστε, πόθεν καί ὅστις ἐτύχθης. Ῥεῖα κεν ὦδε τύχῃς κάλλεος ἀρχετύπου. ∆ιδύμου. Τό εἰδέναι τινά ὅτι ἀγνοεῖ, σοφίας ἐστίν· ὡς καί τό εἰδέναι ὅτι ἠδίκησε,
δικαιοσύνης.
Χρυσοστ. Οὗτος μάλιστα ἐστιν ὁ ἑαυτόν εἰδώς, ὁ μηδέν ἑαυτόν εἶναι νομίζων. (969) Κλήμεντ. Εἰ βούλει γνῶναι Θεόν, προλαβών γνῶθι σαυτόν. Ἀντιφάνους. Εἰ θνητός εἶ, βέλτιστε, θνητά καί φρόνει. ∆ημοσθ. Οἶμαι τό μέλλον ἅπασιν ἀνθρώποις ἄδηλον· καί μικροί καιροί, μεγάλων πραγμάτων
αἴτιοι γίνονται. ∆ιό δεῖ μετριάζειν ἐν ταῖς εὐπραξίαις, καί προορωμένους τό μέλλον φαίνεσθαι.
Ἡρακλείτου. Ἡράκλειτος νέος ὤν, πάντων γέγονεν σοφώτερος, ὅτι ᾔδει ἑαυτόν μηδέν ὄντα.
Σωκράτ. Σωκράτης ᾤετο μηδέν εἰδέναι, πλήν αὐτό τοῦτο, ὅτι μηδέν οἶδεν· τούς δέ λοιπούς, μηδέ τοῦτο εἰδέναι.
Οἱ μέν σφοδρῶς πυρέττοντες, τήν ὄρεξιν καί τήν ῥώμην· οἱ δ᾿ ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις παροικοῦντες, τόν νοῦν καί τά ἤθη πεφύκασι διαφείρεσθαι, εἰ μή τό, Γνῶθι σαυτόν, συχνῶς ἑαυτοῖς ἐπιλέγουσιν.
Φιλήμον. Ἄνθρωπος ὤν, τοῦτ᾿ ἴσθι, καί μενεῖς ἀεί. Σωτάτου. Εἰ καί βασιλεύς πέφυκας, ὡς θνητός ἄκουσον. Ἄν μακρά πτύῃς, φλεγματίῳ κρατῇ περισσῷ.