The highest excellence is like (that of) water. The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things, and in its occupying, without striving (to the contrary), the low place which all men dislike. Hence (its way) is near to (that of) the Tao.
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[4] Charles VIII, King of France, born 1470, died 1498.
The Enchiridion — Chapter 28: Section XXXII
Arjuna. Slayer of Madhu! yet again, this Yog, This Peace, derived from equanimity, Made known by thee--I see no fixity Therein, no rest, because the heart of men Is unfixed, Krishna! rash, tumultuous, Wilful and strong. It were all one, I think, To hold the wayward wind, as tame man's heart.
May not the space between heaven and earth be compared to a bellows?
[Tu Yu quotes Wang Tzŭ as saying: "Without constant practice, the officers will be nervous and undecided when mustering for battle; without constant practice, the general will be wavering and irresolute when the crisis is at hand."]
As we see some grounds that have long lain idle and untilled, when grown rich and fertile by rest, to abound with and spend their virtue in the product of innumerable sorts of weeds and wild herbs that are unprofitable, and that to make them perform their true office, we are to cultivate and prepare them for such seeds as are proper for our service; and as we see women that, without knowledge of man, do sometimes of themselves bring forth inanimate and formless lumps of flesh, but that to cause a natural and perfect generation they are to be husbanded with another kind of seed: even so it is with minds, which if not applied to some certain study that may fix and restrain them, run into a thousand extravagances, eternally roving here and there in the vague expanse of the imagination--
Then after all the just man has turned out to be a thief. And this is a lesson which I suspect you must have learnt out of Homer; for he, speaking of Autolycus, the maternal grandfather of Odysseus, who is a favourite of his, affirms that
Glaucon said: I suppose, since you insist, that we must.
[“And at length and with difficulty is a passage opened by grief for utterance.”--AEneid, xi. 151.]
Why should they not be? I replied; and even if they are not, but only appear to be so to the person who is asked, ought he not to say what he thinks, whether you and I forbid him or not?
The valley spirit dies not, aye the same; The female mystery thus do we name. Its gate, from which at first they issued forth, Is called the root from which grew heaven and earth. Long and unbroken does its power remain, Used gently, and without the touch of pain.
Quite correct, Socrates, if Simonides is to be believed, said Polemarchus interposing.
Seneca's Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency — Chapter 2: Benefits — Chapter II: Several Sorts Of Benefits
There are things which are within our power, and there are things which are beyond our power. Within our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, and, in one word, whatever affairs are our own. Beyond our power are body, property, reputation, office, and, in one word, whatever are not properly our own affairs.
Bhagavad Gita (The Song Celestial)
by Vyasa (tr. Edwin Arnold) (-200)
18 chapters, public domain.
The Prince — Chapter 1: Chapter 1: How Many Kinds Of Principalities There Are, And By What Means They Are
Bhagavad Gita (The Song Celestial) — Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Religion By Discernment
May I ask, Cephalus, whether your fortune was for the most part inherited or acquired by you?
Bhagavad Gita (The Song Celestial) — Chapter 4: Chapter 4: The Religion Of Knowledge