Al-Ghazali (1058-1111)
“Each thing has two faces; a face toward itself, and a face toward its Lord. Viewed in terms of the face of itself, it is nonexistent; but viewed in terms of the face of God, it exists.”
St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
“What is it in the soul that causes it to take more pleasure in things that it loves when they are found and recovered than if it has always had them?”
Anna Komnene (c. 1083-1153)
“Time, which flies irresistibly and perpetually, sweeps up and carries away with it everything that has seen the light of day and plunges it into utter darkness, whether deeds of no significance or those that are mighty and worthy of commemoration.”
Lao Tzu (Daoist Founding theologian, c. 6th and 5th century BCE)
“Highest good is like water. Because water excels in benefiting the myriad creatures without contending with them and settles where none would like to be, it comes close to the way.”
John Skylitzes (Byzantine Historian, 1040-1101)
“Reading provokes recollection; recollection nourishes and expands memory, just as, quite the contrary, negligence and laziness provoke forgetfulness which darkens and confuses the memory of what has happened in the past.”
Second Epistle of Clement (written in the 2nd century CE)
“This is the reason people cannot find peace. They give way to human fears, and prefer the pleasures of the present to the promises of the future.”
Marcus Aurelius (c. 121-180)
“Be not querulous, be Content with little, be kind, be free; avoid all superfluity, all vain prattling; be magnanimous.”
Alexander the Great (356 – 323 BCE)
“What good is it if I own lots of things but accomplish nothing?”
Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE)
“Fear does not generally admit of mercy in extreme danger.”
