Apollonius of Tyana
Apollonius of Tyana
Apollonius of Tyana, sometimes also called Apollonios of Tyana, was a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from the town of Tyana in the Roman province of Cappadocia in Anatolia. Being a 1st-century orator and philosopher around the time of Jesus, he was compared with Jesus of Nazareth by Christians in the 4th century and by other writers in modern times...
NationalityGreek
ProfessionPhilosopher
complete crossed neither nor
When I review Xerxes' achievements, I praise him, not for having yoked the Hellespont, but for having crossed it. But I can see that Nero will neither sail through the Isthmus nor complete his digging.
man perceive
It is a true man's part not to err, but it is also noble of a man to perceive his error.
commune time
It is at the time of dawn that we must commune with the gods.
best common individual monarchy rule transforms worth
Just as an individual of pre-eminent worth transforms democracy into a monarchy of the best man, even so the rule of one man, if in all things it has an eye to the common welfare, is democracy.
asked business people
I asked questions when I was a stripling, and it is not my business to ask questions now, but to teach people what I have discovered.
asked blamed caused certain felt men
I asked certain rich men if they felt embittered. 'How could we not?' they said. So I asked them what caused this anguish. They blamed their wealth.
kept none regularly reject temples
I delight to lodge in such temples as are not regularly kept closed. None of the gods reject me; they make me partner of their roof.
All the earth is mine, and I have a right to go all over it and through it.
acquire deserve gods good humans might please power seems wisdom
The gods do not need sacrifices, so what might one do to please them? Acquire wisdom, it seems to me, and do all the good in one's power to those humans who deserve it.
anyone send sorts
The gods, as they are beneficent, if they find anyone who is healthy and whole and unscarred by vice, will send him away, surely, after crowning him, not with golden crowns, but with all sorts of blessings.