Ancient Quotes
  
  
  
	
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		The dumpling is indeed of more ancient institution, and of foreign origin; but alas, what were those dumplings? Nothing but a few lentils sodden together, moisten'd and cemented with a little seeth'd fat.
	
	
	
		
			
				
					
						
					
				
				John Arbuthnot
			
		
	
	
  
	 
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		But, strictly speaking, this mythology was no essential part of ancient religion, for it had no sacred sanction and no binding force on the worshippers.
	
	
	
		
			
				
					
						
					
				
				William Robertson Smith
			
		
	
	
  
	 
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		The ancient feud between cat and dog is not forgotten in the north, for the Lynx is the deadly foe of the Fox and habitually kills it when there is soft snow and scarcity of easier prey.
	
	
	
		
			
				
					
						
					
				
				Ernest Thompson Seton
			
		
	
	
  
	 
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		The most striking difference between ancient and modern sophists is that the ancients were satisfied with a passing victory of argument at the expense of truth, whereas the moderns want a more lasting victory at the expense of reality.
	
	
	
		
			
				
					
						
					
				
				Hannah Arendt
			
		
	
	
  
	 
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		Jealousy isn't something we deal with well, but some of us have been around long enough to know when to let go, and what is most important. The happiness of my two best friends should be more important than some ancient feud.
	
	
	
		
			
				
					
						
					
				
				Julie Kagawa
			
		
	
	
  
	 
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		If ever you come upon a grove of ancient trees which have grown to an exceptional height, shutting out a view of sky by a veil of pleached and intertwining branches, then the loftiness of the forest, the seclusion of the spot and your marvel at the thick unbroken shade in the midst of the open spaces, will prove to you the presence of deity.
	
	
	
		
			
				
					
						
					
				
				Seneca the Younger
			
		
	
	
  
	 
	
		
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		Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient and ever new! Late have I loved you! And, behold, you were within me, and I out of myself, and there I searched for you.
	
	
	
		
			
				
					
						
					
				
				Saint Augustine
			
		
	
	
  
	 
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		Come my spade. There is no ancient gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold up Adam's profession.
	
	
	
		
			
				
					
						
					
				
				William Shakespeare
			
		
	
	
  
	 
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		I've been really happy to be in that conversation with Scott [Derrickson] for a few months now. We started chewing this cud a while ago. He is, as you probably know, an extremely erudite thinker in terms of religious philosophy and just thinking about a modern take on something really, really ancient, about how to imagine living beyond any physical bounds, which we're on the verge of now.
	
	
	
		
			
				
					
						
					
				
				Tilda Swinton
			
		
	
	
  
	 
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		In ancient times, those who wished to illuminate the world with virtue first brought order to their nations. Wishing to order well their nations, they first harmonized their families. Wishing to harmonize their families, they first cultivated themselves. Wishing to cultivate themselves, they first rectified their minds. Those who wished to rectify their minds first made their intentions sincere.
	
	
	
		
			
				
					
						
					
				
				Confucius
			
		
	
	
  
	 
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		But this same process of the old teaching the young can also cause errors and false conclusions to accumulate with the passage of time. One should therefore study ancient writings, not so much in the hope of finding lost wisdom as in the hope of locating the origin of errors that have been, and still are, accepted truths.
	
	
	
		
			
				
					
						
					
				
				Carl Eckart
			
		
	
	
  
	 
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		They are at the end of the gallery; retired to their tea and scandal, according to their ancient custom.
	
	
	
		
			
				
					
						
					
				
				William Congreve
			
		
	
	
  
	 
	
		
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		China, slavishly dedicated to ancient scholars, incapable of generating within herself sufficient rulers to continue, without bloodshed, a nation.
	
	
	
		
			
				
					
						
					
				
				L. Ron Hubbard
			
		
	
	
  
	 
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		I'm going to come back to West Virginia when this is over. There's something ancient and deeply-rooted in my soul. I like to think that I have left my ghost up one of those hollows, and I'll never really be able to leave for good until I find it. And I don't want to look for it, because I might find it and have to leave." - from a letter to his mother Helen Pancake that Breece wrote in Charlottesville, where he was studying writing.
	
	
	
		
			
				
					
						
					
				
				Breece D'J Pancake
			
		
	
	
  
	 
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		Ancient of days! august Athena! where, Where are thy men of might? thy grand in soul? Gone--glimmering through the dream of things that were; First in the race that led to glory's goal, They won, and pass'd away--Is this the whole?
	
	
	
		
			
				
					
						
					
				
				Lord Byron
			
		
	
	
  
	 
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		Oh, river! darkling river! what a voice
Is that thou utterest while all else is still--
The ancient voice that, centuries ago,
Sounded between thy hills, while Rome was yet
A weedy solitude by Tiber's stream!
	
	
	
		
			
				
					
						
					
				
				William Cullen Bryant
			
		
	
	
  
	 
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		The main foundations of every state, new states as well as ancient or composite ones, are good laws and good arms you cannot have good laws without good arms, and where there are good arms, good laws inevitably follow.
	
	
	
		
			
				
					
						
					
				
				Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli
			
		
	
	
  
	 
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		Men of science have made abundant mistakes of every kind; their knowledge has improved only because of their gradual abandonment of ancient errors, poor approximations, and premature conclusions.
	
	
	
		
			
				
					
						
					
				
				George Sarton