The Art of Tetman Callis

“He, who hearkens with the inner ear, is a man of quick hearing, he who turns his eyes inwards, is a man of clear vision, and he who conquers himself is said to be strong.” – J. J.-L. Duyvendak, The Book of Lord Shang Share this… Facebook Pinterest Twitter Linkedin Email Print

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On the mountains are the thorny elms,In the low, wet grounds are the white elms.You have suits of robes,But you will not wear them;You have carriages and horses,But you will not drive them.You will drop off in death,And another person will enjoy them.On the mountains is the k’aou,In the low wet grounds is the nëw.You […]

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The sun is in the east,And that lovely girlIs in my chamber.She is in my chamber;She treads in my footsteps, and comes to me.The moon is in the east,And that lovely girlIs inside my door.She is inside my door;She treads in my footsteps, and hastens away.– “Tung fang che jih,” The She King, or, The […]

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The tribulus grows on the wall,And cannot be brushed away.The story of the inner chamberCannot be told.What would have to be toldWould be the vilest of recitals.The tribulus grows on the wall,And cannot be removed.The story of the inner chamberCannot be particularly related.What might be particularly relatedWould be a long story.The tribulus grows on the […]

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In the wild there is a dead antelope,And it is wrapped up with the white grass.There is a young lady with thoughts natural to the spring,And a fine gentleman would lead her astray.In the forest there are the scrubby oaks;In the wild there is a dead deer,And it is bound round with the white grass.There […]

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Dropping are the fruits from the plum-tree;There are seven of them left!For the gentlemen who seek me,This is the fortunate time!Dropping are the fruits from the plum-tree;There are three of them left!For the gentlemen who seek me,Now is the time.Dropt are the fruits from the plum-tree;In my shallow basket I have collected them.Would the gentlemen […]

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“The rain is what comes down from above; but when ordinances are numerous as the drops of rain, this is not the way to administer government.” – The She King, or, The Book of Poetry (trans. James Legge) Share this… Facebook Pinterest Twitter Linkedin Email Print

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“A man who sees inaction in action and action in inaction has understanding among men, disciplined in all actions he performs. The wise say a man is learned when his plans lack constructs of desire, when his actions are burned by the fire of knowledge. Abandoning attachment to fruits of action, always content, independent, he […]

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“Alcibiades. He was the Golden Boy of 4th century Athenian culture. Pericles was his guardian, Plato his teacher. A fine athlete, a brilliant general, handsome, marvelously intelligent, popular, everything. A summation of the Golden Age. And what happened? He went bad. He was vain, treacherous, selfish, sacrilegious, debauched, dishonest, and a traitor twice over. His […]

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“Sophrosyne, which to the Greeks was an ideal second to none in importance, is not among our ideals. We have lost the conception of it. Enough is said about it in Greek literature for us to be able to describe it in some fashion, but we cannot give it a name. It was the spirit […]

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“Judgment is to be made of actions according to the times in which they were performed. The conduct of a wise politician is ever suited to the present posture of affairs; often by foregoing a part he saves the whole, and by yielding in a small matter secures a greater.” – “Comparison of Poplicola with […]

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“The remission of debts was peculiar to Solon; it was his great means for confirming the citizens’ liberty; for a mere law to give all men equal rights is but useless, if the poor must sacrifice those rights to their debts, and, in the very seats and sanctuaries of equality, the courts of justice, the […]

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“A people always minds its rulers bestWhen it is neither humored nor oppressed.”– “Comparison of Poplicola with Solon,” Plutarch’s Lives (trans. A. H. Clough) Share this… Facebook Pinterest Twitter Linkedin Email Print

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“Most of the authors of the New Testament did not write particularly well, even by the forgiving standards of the koiné—that is, ‘common’—Greek in which they worked. The unknown author of the Letter to the Hebrews commanded a fairly distinguished and erudite style, and was obviously an accomplished native speaker of the tongue; and Luke, […]

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“If there is no consciousness but only a dreamless sleep, death must be a marvelous gain. I suppose that if anyone were told to pick out the night on which he slept so soundly as not even to dream, and then to compare it with all the other nights and days of his life, and […]

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“The difficulty is not so much to escape death; the real difficulty is to escape from doing wrong, which is far more fleet of foot.” – Plato, Socrates’ Defense (Apology) (trans. Hugh Tredennick) Share this… Facebook Pinterest Twitter Linkedin Email Print

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“I do not think that it is right for a man to appeal to the jury or to get himself acquitted by doing so; he ought to inform them of the facts and convince them by argument. The jury does not sit to dispense justice as a favor, but to decide where justice lies, and […]

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“The true champion of justice, if he intends to survive even for a short time, must necessarily confine himself to private life and leave politics alone.” – Plato, Socrates’ Defense (Apology) (trans. Hugh Tredennick) Share this… Facebook Pinterest Twitter Linkedin Email Print

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“You are mistaken, my friend, if you think that a man who is worth anything ought to spend his time weighing up the prospects of life and death. He has only one thing to consider in performing any action—that is, whether he is acting rightly or wrongly, like a good man or a bad one.” […]

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“Laws must look to possibilities, if the maker designs to punish few in order to their amendment, and not many to no purpose.” – “Solon,” Plutarch’s Lives (trans. A. H. Clough) Share this… Facebook Pinterest Twitter Linkedin Email Print

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“People do not obey, unless rulers know how to command; obedience is a lesson taught by commanders. A true leader himself creates the obedience of his own followers; as it is the last attainment in the art of riding to make a horse gentle and tractable, so is it of the science of government, to […]

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“A ruler’s first end is to maintain his office, which is done no less by avoiding what is unfit than by observing what is suitable. Whoever is either too remiss or too strict is no more a king or a governor, but either a demagogue or a despot, and so becomes either odious or contemptible […]

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“It is the general feeling of all who have occasion for wicked men’s service, as people have for the poison of venomous beasts; they are glad of them while they are of use, and abhor their baseness when it is over.” – “Romulus,” Plutarch’s Lives (trans. A. H. Clough) Share this… Facebook Pinterest Twitter Linkedin […]

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“That age produced a sort of men, in force of hand, and swiftness of foot, and strength of body, excelling the ordinary rate, and wholly incapable of fatigue; making use, however, of these gifts of nature to no good or profitable purpose for mankind, but rejoicing and priding themselves in insolence, and taking the benefit […]

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“According to Aristotle, the Pythagoreans held that the elements of number were the elements of things, and, therefore, that things were numbers. To us, accustomed as we are from childhood to the multiplication table, such an assertion seems simply meaningless. We are so familiar with the idea of counting without counting anything, that it is […]

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“And the father lifts up his own son in a changed form and slays him with a prayer. Infatuated fool! And they are dragged along begging mercy from the madman, while he, deaf to their cries, slaughters them in his halls and gets ready the evil feast.” – Empedokles, Purifications (from John Burnet, Early Greek […]

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“Greek democracies could never pardon the introduction of new gods. Their objection to this was not, however, that the gods in question were false gods. If they had been so, it would not have mattered so much. What they could not tolerate was that any one should establish a private means of communication between himself […]

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“Ancient religions cared nothing for a man’s belief, if only it did not set him in open opposition to the public worship of the State, and, so long as the proper ceremonial was correctly performed, any explanation of it that occurred to the spectator might be given. He might believe or disbelieve that the Mysteries […]

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“The noblest question in the world is What Good may I do in it?” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1737 (emphasis in original) Share this… Facebook Pinterest Twitter Linkedin Email Print

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“Imagine insects with a life span of two weeks, and then imagine further that they are trying to build up a science about the nature of time and history. Clearly, they cannot build a model on the basis of a few days in summer. So let us endow them with a language and a culture […]

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