–Ernest Holmes in Science of Mind, “People will forget what you say, but they will never forget how you make them feel.” The Officious man is one who will rise and promise things beyond his power; and who, when an arrangement is admitted to be just, will oppose it, and be refuted. Cornel West, “We cannot evolve any faster than we evolve our language because you cannot go to places that you cannot describe.” –David Mamet, “If you want to be a writer, you don’t want to live in a comfortable place.” –Mark Twain, “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” –from the movie “Into Great Silence”, “If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one.” Then, on a jury, he will hinder his fellows from coming to a verdict, at a theatre from seeing the play, at a dinner-party, from eating; saying that ‘it is hard for a chatterer to be silent,’ and that his tongue will run, and that he could not hold it, though he should be thought a greater chatterer than a swallow. This person’s father was originally called Sosias; in the ranks he came to rank as Sosistratus; and, when he was enrolled in his deme, as Sosidemus. Then, in general, it may be noticed that the money-boxes of the penurious are mouldy, and the keys rusty; that they themselves wear their cloaks scarcely reaching to the thigh; that they anoint themselves with very small oil-flasks; that they have their hair cut close; that they take off their shoes in the middle of the day; and that they are urgent with the fuller to let their cloak have plenty of earth, in order that it may not soon be soiled. –Mike Zonta, H.W., M. “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” If a weasel run across his path, he will not pursue his walk until someone else has traversed the road, or until he has thrown three stones across it. He would seem, too, to be of those who are scrupulous in sprinkling themselves with sea-water; and, if ever he observes anyone feasting on the garlic at the cross-roads, he will go away, pour water over his head, and, summoning the priestesses, bid them carry a squill or a puppy around him for purification. –Richard Branam. –Neil deGrasse Tyson, “The ego gets what it wants with words. –Mike Zonta, H.W., M. “Truth moves at the speed of now.” –Roland Campos. If he has dedicated a brass ring in the temple of Asclepius, he will wear it to a wire with daily burnishings and oilings. These, again, are traits of his. –Anais Nin, “Often people think that it’s a question of adrenaline, [that] it’s an adrenaline addiction. –bumper sticker, “One thing that comes out in myths is that at the bottom of the abyss comes the voice of salvation. –William Blake in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, “Love well, be loved and do something of value.” Theophrastus , a Greek native of Eresos in Lesbos , was the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He will ask his wife in bed if she has locked the wardrobe, and if the cupboard has been sealed, and the bolt put upon the hall-door; and, if the reply is ‘Yes,’ not the less will he forsake the blankets, and light the lamp and run about shirtless and shoeless to inspect all these matters, and barely thus find sleep. He is apt, also, to enforce the right of distraining, and to exact compound interest. It’s here to make you conscious.” Said to have been emasculated from infancy which accounts for his beardless face and feminine appearance and hatred of women. According toDiogenes Laertius, early in his life Theophrastus was a student of anotherwise unheard of Alcippus in his native city and then of Plato inthe Academy, where he met Aristotle, who was not more t… Like celery.” A Greek text is freely available; cf. That’s how the light gets in.” — Peter Solomon in The Lost Symbol, “Have an open-mind, but don’t let your brains fall out.” –Brian Wallenstein, H.W., d. “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on, but once it gets its pants on, watch out!! –Gracie Allen, “Don’t look at me like I’ve gotten old or something like that.” –Aristotle, “Tread softly upon the earth because the faces of the unborn look up at you.” –Philo of Alexandria. “They are not transformed by the unfolding of events. Theophrastus' Characters enjoyed a long life throughout antiquity and were prone to epitomizing as papyri, testimonies and a complex manuscript tradition remind us. –Henry David Thoreau, “The mind loves truth and so does the body.” If a friend, or a friend’s daughter, is to be married, he will go abroad a little while before, in order to avoid giving a wedding present. If he entertains his friends, he will not dine with them himself, but will appoint a subordinate to preside. –Mark Twain. If the fence is too high, we will pole vault in. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” The Avaricious man is one who, when he entertains, will not set enough bread upon the table. When he has sacrificed an ox, he will nail up the skin of the forehead, wreathed with large garlands, opposite the entrance, in order that those who come in may see that he has sacrificed an ox. Theophrastus' Characters is a collection of thirty short character-sketches of various types of individuals who walked the streets of Athens in the late fourth century BC. The Gross man is one who will insult freeborn women; who, in a theatre, will applaud when others cease, and hiss the actors who please the rest of the spectators. Hearing shouts and seeing men falling, he will remark to those who stand by him that he has forgotten in his haste to bring his sword, and will run to the tent; where, having sent his slave out to reconnoitre the position of the enemy, he will hide the sword under his pillow, and then spend a long time in pretending to look for it. If he is present at the flogging of a slave, he will relate how a slave of his own was once beaten in the same way — and hanged himself; or, assisting at an arbitration, he will persist in embroiling the parties when they both wish to be reconciled. 612p. –Henri Cartier-Bresson, “Love? Theophrastus: Characters | James Diggle, Theophrastus | download | B–OK. He will profess to recollect benefits which he has conferred. [In short the Flatterer may be observed saying and doing all things by which he conceives that he will gain favour.]. 1, employee No. Aye, and when he has prostrated a few lonely stragglers, he is apt to march next upon large, compact bodies, and to rout them in the midst of their occupations. If a mouse gnaws through a meal-bag, he will go to the expounder of sacred law and ask what is to be done; and, if the answer is, ‘give it to a cobbler to stitch up,’ he will disregard the counsel, and go his way, and expiate the omen by sacrifice. –John Ciardi, “Energy is primary. The Arrogant man is one who will say to a person who is in a hurry that he will see him after dinner when he is taking his walk. In writing a letter, he will not say ‘I should be much obliged,’ but ‘I wish it to be thus and thus’; or ‘I have sent to you for’ this or that; or ‘You will attend to this strictly’; or ‘Without a moments delay.’. Disingenuous and designing characters are in truth to be shunned more carefully than vipers.]. – Barack Obama, “Give me some TRUTH!” He will state, too, that in the famine his outlay came to more than five talents in presents to the distressed citizens: (‘he never could say No’;) and actually, although the persons sitting near him are strangers, he will request one of them to set up the counters; when, reckoning by sums of six hundred drachmas or of a mina, and plausibly assigning names to each of these, he will make a total of as many as ten talents. . The characters of Theophrastus; an English translation, from a revised text - Ebook written by Theophrastus. Truth tames us.” This edition published in 1824 by J. Taylor in London. He is apt also not to pray to the gods. Free shipping and pickup in store on eligible orders. He will take lessons from his son in ‘Right Wheel,’ ‘Left Wheel,’ ‘Right-about-face.’ At the festivals of heroes he will match himself against boys for a torch-race; nay, it is just like him, if haply he is invited to a temple of Heracles, to throw off his cloak and seize the ox in order to bend its neck back. He vows that thyme smells sweeter than any perfume; he wears his shoes too large for his feet; he talks in a loud voice. I will begin with Irony and define it; next I will set forth, in like manner, the nature of the Ironical man, and of the character into which he has drifted; and then I will try, as I proposed, to make the other affections of the mind plain, each after its kind.]. –Oprah, “When I was born I was so surprised I didn’t talk for a year and a half.” The "Characters" of Theophrastus consists of thirty fictional sketches of men who are each dominated by a single fault, such as arrogance, boorishness, or superstition. Hearing, he will affect not to have heard, seeing, not to have seen; if he has made an admission, he will say that he does not remember it. Barrie in Tommy and Grizel, “If you don’t believe in something greater than yourself, you’ll never do anything greater than yourself.” we, the prytaneis, have been sacrificing to the Mother of the Gods meetly and auspiciously; receive ye her good gifts!’ Having made this announcement he will go home to his wife and declare that he is supremely fortunate. Recklessness is tolerance of shame in word and deed. He will sweep out his house when he gets up, and polish the sofas; and, in sitting down, he will twist aside the coarse cloak which he wears himself. –Richard Branam. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.” When he has seen a vision, he will go to the interpreters of dreams, the seers, the augurs, to ask them to what god or goddess he ought to pray. –Ben Gilberti, H.W., M. “Falling in love is a form of mystical envisioning in which one sees the beloved as he or she is seen through the eyes of God.” Chattiness, if one should wish to define it, would seem to be an incontinence of talk. “My heart is like a toilet door! Their manner of life is indeed most miserable. –George Bernard Shaw, “Minds are like parachutes: they only function when open.” These women snatch the passers-by out of the very street…That is a house which has not the best of characters…Really there is something in that proverb about the women…In short, they have a trick of gossiping with men, — and they answer the hall-door themselves.’. Then he will call by name to a passer-by with whom he is not familiar; or, if he chance to see persons in a hurry, he will cry ‘stop’ or he will go up to a man who has lost a great lawsuit and is leaving the court, and will congratulate him. –nun on Oprah, “Boredom is the child of self-centeredness.” To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool. And, in general, he is very apt to use this kind of phrase: ‘I do not believe it’; ‘I do not understand it’; ‘I am astonished.’ Or he will say that he has heard it from some one else: ‘This, however, was not the story that he told me.’ ‘The thing surprises me’; ‘Don’t tell me’; ‘I do not know how I am to disbelieve you, or to condemn him’; ‘Take care that you are not too credulous.’, [Such the speeches, such the doublings and retractions to which the Ironical man will resort. He will not endure to wait long for anyone; nor will he consent to sing, or to recite, or to dance. If he has anything for sale, instead of informing the buyers at what price he is prepared to sell it, he will ask them what he is to get for it. Of Homer’s poetry he has mastered only this line, —. “A philosophy should not take the place of conscientiousness and compassion. Also, when he entertains, he will show off the qualities of his parasite to his guest; and will say, too, in an encouraging tone over the wine, that the amusement of the company has been provided for. He will take his son away to Delphi to have his hair cut. BE.” Shamelessness may be defined as neglect of reputation for the sake of base gain. –R.W. [It is a standing puzzle to me what object these men can have in their inventions; for, besides telling falsehoods, they incur positive loss. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears. Moreover he will lean towards his ear and whisper with him; or will glance at him as he talks to the rest of the company. Your email address will not be published. The Flatterer is a person who will say as he walks with another, ‘Do you observe how people are looking at you? What is it? What news have you to give me about this affair?’ And then he will reiterate the question — ‘Is anything fresh rumoured? Plays are about lies.” It is just like him, too, when others are speaking evil, to join in: — ‘And I hate that man above all men. Boastfulness would seem to be, in fact, pretension to advantages which one does not possess. –paraphrasing Hanz Bolen, H.W., M. “It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.” If he travels on the public service, he will leave at home the money allowed to him by the State, and will borrow of his colleagues in the embassy; he will load his servant with more baggage than he can carry, and give him shorter rations than any other master does; he will demand, too, his strict share of the presents, — and sell it. If the gate is closed, we will go over the fence. 2, and shareholder No. – Charles Lamb, “If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape one hundred days of sorrow.” Theophrastou Charakteres. He is apt, also, not to send his children to school when there is a festival of the Muses, but say that they are unwell, in order that they may not contribute. Edmonds, J. M., Theophrastus: Characters, Loeb, ed. Answer: It’s not.” He will demand his interest from his creditors in the presence of witnesses, to prevent the possibility of their repudiating the debt. Cowardice would seem to be, in fact, the shrinking of the soul through fear. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Jean de La Bruyère, Les Caractères (1688) & Character Writings of the Seventeenth Century (1891). Penuriousness is too strict attention to profit and loss. He is the first of the guests to praise the wine; and to say, as he reclines next the host, ‘How delicate is your fare!’ and (taking up something from the table) ‘Now this — how excellent it is!’ He will ask his friend if he is cold, and if he would like something more; and, before the words are spoken, will wrap him up. We believe customer No. –Thanissara Mary Weinberg. 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