FAMOUS MAXIM OF THE GREEK SAGES: “Know thyself.” (“Gnothi seauton.”) |
THE CHINESE SAGE’S VERSION: “He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.” |
THE CHINESE GENERAL’S VERSION: “Know your enemy and know yourself, find naught in fear for 100 battles. Know yourself but not your enemy, find level of loss and victory. Know thy enemy but not yourself, wallow in defeat every time.” |
“POOR RICHARD’S” OBSERVATION: “There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.” |
A BRIT WIT’S COUNTERQUOTE: “Only the shallow know themselves.” |
A FRENCH WRITER’S COUNTERQUTE: “‘Know Thyself’ – a maxim as pernicious as it is odious. A person observing himself would arrest his own development. Any caterpillar who tried to ‘know himself’ would never become a butterfly.” |
HENRY MILLER’S DARK VIEW: “The study of crime begins with the knowledge of oneself.” For fun, also see the video riff on “Know thyself” that I posted on YouTube. |
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