Ptahhotep Ptah-hotep
c. 24th century BC · Memphis, ancient Egypt
Be not proud because thou art learned; but discourse with the ignorant man, as with the sage. For no limit can be set to skill, neither is there any craftsman that possesseth full advantages. Fair speech is more rare than the emerald that is found by slave-maidens on the pebbles.The Instruction of Ptahhotep, the first teaching · in place of the original: the English translation by Battiscombe Gunn (1906)
More from Ptahhotep · #learning
In the same thread
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
1808 · Frankfurt, Germany · Weimar · The old scholar Faust, speaking in his study
I have now, alas, studied philosophy, jurisprudence and medicine, and, sad to say, theology too, through and through, with burning effort. And here I stand, poor fool that I am, no wiser than I was before.
Habe nun, ach! Philosophie, Juristerei und Medizin, Und leider auch Theologie Durchaus studiert, mit heißem Bemühn. Da steh ich nun, ich armer Tor! Und bin so klug als wie zuvor
Faust, Part One, "Night"
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
1808 · Frankfurt, Germany · Weimar · The devil Mephistopheles, speaking to a student
Grey, dear friend, is all theory, and green is the golden tree of life.
Grau, teurer Freund, ist alle Theorie, Und grün des Lebens goldner Baum.
Faust, Part One, "Study"
Yoshida Kenko 兼好
c. 1330 · late Kamakura Japan · The holy man Shokai had led a party on a pilgrimage to the Izumo shrine in Tamba
The stone lion and guardian dog before the shrine stood back to back, facing the wrong way. The holy man was deeply moved. "How wonderful! The way this lion stands is most unusual. There must be a profound reason," he said, his eyes filling with tears. "Gentlemen, have you not noticed this marvel? That is too bad of you."
御前なる獅子・狛犬、背きて、後ろさまに立ちたりければ、上人いみじく感じて、「あなめでたや。この獅子の立ちやう、いとめづらし。深きゆゑあらむ。」と涙ぐみて、「いかに殿ばら、殊勝のことは御覧じとがめずや。むげなり。」Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness), section 236
Yoshida Kenko 兼好
c. 1330 · late Kamakura Japan · The holy man had called over a grave, knowing-looking priest and asked to be told the tradition behind the way the lions were placed
"Ah, that. Some naughty children did it. It is really too bad," he said, and he went up, set them right, and walked away. The holy man's tears of awe had been for nothing.
「そのことに候ふ。さがなき童べどもの、つかまつりける、奇怪に候ふことなり。」とて、さし寄りて、すゑ直して往にければ、上人の感涙いたづらになりにけり。Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness), section 236, the ending
Lu You 陸游
1199 · Song China
What comes from paper is in the end too shallow. Know this for certain: the thing has to be done yourself.
紙上得來終覺淺，絕知此事要躬行。"Reading on a Winter Night, to Show My Son Ziyu," in the Complete Song Poems
1 in 100 Billion · The social network of those who came before us