quotes ← the digital glebe

More on Man 1

Nov

2012

‘For very truth, I am not fully determined with myself whether I will put forth my book or no. For the natures of men be so divers, the fantasies of some so wayward, their minds so unkind, their judgments so corrupt that they which lead a merry and jocund life following their own sensual pleasures ...

Discendi et loquendi ratio

Feb

2012

Marsilio Ficino to Luca Fabiano, his scribe: greetings. NATURE endows us with many instruments through which we may learn: eyes, ears, noses, taste and touch. But she gave only a single instrument by which we may teach, namely the faculty of speaking. She has certainly warned us that we should use the service of learning ...

The folly and misery of men 4

Sep

2011

Letter 58 – Stultitia et miseria hominum The folly and misery of men Marsilio Ficino to Plero Vanni, Cherubino Quarquagli, Domenico Galletti: greetings. You have seen painted in my academy a sphere of the world; on one side Democritus laughing, and on the other Heraclitus weeping. Why is Democritus laughing? Why does Heraclitus weep? Because ...

The Seventh Seal 30

Jul

2011

The chess game opens with the knight holding out his hands, a white piece hidden in one hand, a black one in the other. Death chooses the black pawn (“You are black”, says Block. “It becomes me well.” replies Death). The first moves of each use the king’s pawn. In the confessional, the knight says ...

Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds

Jul

2010

“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” Charles Mackay 1841 The whole 3-volume work is available online at Project Gutenberg. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24518/24518-h/24518-h.htm http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page