Sayings of the Sages | Pt. 4 of a Commonplace Book of Wisdom
Sharing the Sententiae I Find Through This Digital Commonplace Book
Thinkers and scholars used to assemble commonplace books around their field of study and have them printed up to sell to the public in order that others might benefit from their selections and come to understand a bit more about their respective fields. Unfortunately this practice has fallen out of fashion, but I’m bringing it back right here on my Substack!
Sayings of the Sages is the digital version of my pocket proverbs treasury commonplace book of wisdom. I keep a golden Leuchtturm1917 A6 pocket notebook in a black Horween leather cover from NormanCahn. I bring it will me just about everywhere I go and when I find a wise saying (sententia), I put it in my treasury commonplace book. It’s a treasury CPB because I don’t add any of my own thoughts like I would in a manuscript CPB—this one is just a storehouse for wise quotes I find—and I find them all over the place.
In this entry I have quotes from the Star Wars Ahsoka show, Descartes, King Solomon, Diogenes, Marcus Aurelius, The Killer (Netflix), Augustine, David Chalmers, and more.
These commonplace book entries are for my paid subscribers but I will give my free subs a few of the sententiae to wet your beak and hopefully a few more of you will want to up grade to paid in order to help support my work. Let’s jump in:
Sayings of the Sages pt. 4
Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. Job 1:20-22 ESV A rich man is wise in his own eyes, but a poor man who has understanding will find him out. Proverbs 28:11 Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations IV.7 (Modern Library, 39) A philosopher without clothes and one without books. “I have nothing to eat”, says he, as he stands there half-naked, “but I subsist on the Logos.” And with nothing to read, I subsist on it too. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations IV.30 (Modern Library, 44) The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps. Proverbs 14:15 ESV Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly. Proverbs 14:29 ESV Truth is always quiet, it’s the lies that are loud. The Pastor’s wife in Jesus Revolution (movie) Bene qui latuit, bene vixit He who remains well hidden, lives well. Rene Descartes’s use of the adage of Ovid, Discourse on the Method, xvi.