Great Throughts Treasury

"Painting is silent poetry, poetry painting that speaks."

"The chief aid to memory is order."

"The greatest touchstone of any work is time."

"We are all debts due to death."

"A bad, the bitterest curse of human life."

"A man gains no possession better than a good woman, nothing more horrible than a bad one."

"Dancing is silent poetry."

"If to die honorably is the greatest Part of virtue, for us fate's done her best. Because we fought to crown Greece with freedom We lie here enjoying timeless fame."

"Here four thousand from the Peloponnese once fought three thousand thousands. [epitaph he wrote for King Leonidas I of Sparta]"

"Not even the gods contend with necessity. [Not even the gods war against necessity.]"

"It is hard to be truly excellent, four-square in hand and foot and mind, formed without blemish."

"Of earth's goods, the best is a good wife; a bad, the bitterest curse of human life."

"The gods do not fight against necessity."

"There's no joy even in beautiful Wisdom, unless one have holy Health."

"The city is the teacher of the man."

"We count it death to falter, not to die."

"We did not flinch but gave our lives to save Greece when her fate hung on a razor's edge."

"The word is the image of the thing."

"Whereas gold is the kindest of all hosts when it shines in the sky, it comes an evil guest unto those that receive it in their hand."

"?Tis said that virtue dwells sublime on rugged cliffs, full hard to climb; but mortal ne?er her form may see, unless his restless energy breaks forth in sweat that gains the goal, the perfect manhood of the soul."

"Go, tell the Spartans, stranger passing by that here, obedient to their laws, we lie. Stranger, go tell the men of Lacedaemon that we, who lie here, did as we were ordered. Stranger, bring the message to the Spartans that here we remain, obedient to their orders. Oh foreigner, tell the Lacedaemonians that here we lie, obeying those words."

"A man gains no possession better than a good woman, nothing more horrible than a bad one."

"I have often regretted my speech, never my silence."

"If to die honorably is the greatest Part of virtue, for us fate's done her best. Because we fought to crown Greece with freedom We lie here enjoying timeless fame."

"I praise and love all men who do no sin willingly; but with necessity even the gods do not contend."

"Here lies Megistias, who died when the Medes crossed Spercheius' tide. A great seer, yet he scorned to save Himself, and shared the Spartans' grave."

"Painting is silent poetry, poetry is eloquent painting."

"The city is the teacher of the man."

"The city is the teacher of the man."

"The gods do not fight against necessity."

"There is no better test of a man's work than time, which also reveals the thoughts which lay hidden in his breast."

"There's no joy even in beautiful Wisdom, unless one have holy Health."

"It is hard to be truly excellent, four-square in hand and foot and mind, formed without blemish."

"Of earth's goods, the best is a good wife; a bad, the bitterest curse of human life."

"Not even the gods war against necessity."

"Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting with the gift of speech."

"We did not flinch but gave our lives to save Greece when her fate hung on a razor's edge."

"Where as gold is the kindest of all hosts when it shines in the sky, it comes an evil guest unto those that receive it in their hand."