Hateful to me, as the gates of Hell, is that man who hides one thing in his heart, but speaks another.

ἐχθρὸς γάρ μοι κεῖνος ὁμῶς Ἀΐδαο πύλῃσιν / ὅς χ’ ἕτερον μὲν κεύθῃ ἐνὶ φρεσίν, ἄλλο δὲ εἴπῃ.

Homer, Iliad 9.312-3

Einstein on Latin, Nationalism

As late as the seventeenth century the savants and artists of all Europe were so closely united by the bond of a common ideal that cooperation between them was scarcely affected by political events. This unity was further strengthened by the general use of the Latin language.

Today we look back at this state of affairs as at a lost paradise. The passions of nationalism have destroyed this community of the intellect, and the Latin language which once united the whole world is dead. The men of learning have become representatives of the most extreme national traditions and lost their sense of an intellectual commonwealth.

Nowadays we are faced with the dismaying fact that the politicians, the practical men of affairs, have become the exponents of international ideas. It is they who have created the League of Nations.

Einstein, Albert. Ideas and Opinions. 1954. p. 1

A twofer

The immortals dish out to humans two evils for each good.

ἕν παρ᾽ ἐσλὸν πήματα σύνδυο δαίονται βροτοῖς / ἀθάνατοι.

Pindar, Pythian 3.82-3.

A greedy man is the cause of his own misery.

Avārus miseriae causa est suae.

Publilius Syrus, Sententiae A14

A Christian cannot despair of man… What, then, is my hope? A general and worldwide mobilization of all the forces of the spirit, with the aim of returning to man an awareness of dignity. From this point of view, the Church has a great role to play. She will play it sooner or later, will be forced to play it. For the Catholic Church has already condemned the modern world, at a time when it was difficult to understand the reasons for a condemnation that facts now justify daily. For example, the famous Syllabus compiled by Pope Pius IX in 1864, which Christian Democrats of today are too cowardly ever to dare speak about, passed in its time for a kind of purely reactionary manifesto. Today it seems prophetic. Tyranny is not behind us, but in front of us; we must look it in the face, now or never. All humanity is sick. It is humanity which must be cured. First and above all, man must be respiritualized.

Georges Bernanos, Liberty, (Cluny 2019) 91.

People want only reassuring truths. Truth is not reassuring, however, but demanding.

Georges Bernanos, Liberty, (Cluny 2019) 98.

The tragic flows entirely from an irreconcilable conflict. From the moment that reconciliation enters, or becomes possible, the truly tragic disappears.

Goethe in a letter to Friedrich von Muller of 6th June 1824, via Lesky, A History of Greek Literature (1963) 264.

You fiend! It is the compelling power of great thoughts and ideas to engender phrases of equal size.

ἀλ’ ὦ κακόδαιμον ἀνάγκη μεγάλων γνωμῶν καὶ διανοιῶν ἴσα καὶ τὰ ῥήματα τίκτειν.

Aristophanes, Frogs 1059.

Conversation is more fruitful than lectures.

Here, so he boasts, many an hour of personal conversation with the learned philologians was more instrucive and stimulating than an entire week of classes.

Hier brachte ihm, wie er rühmte, manche Stunde persönlicher Unterhaltung mit dem gelehrten Philologen mehr Belehrung und Anregung als eine ganze Woche Unterricht.

Otto Ribbeck, Friedrich Wilhelm Ritschl (1879) 12.

It is impossible to know any man–I mean his soul, intelligence, and judgement–until he shows his skill in rule and law.

ἀήχανον δὲ παντὸς ἀνδρὸς ἐκμαθεῖν / ψυχήν τε καὶ φρόνημα καὶ γνώμην, πρὶν ἂν / ἀρχαῖς τε καὶ νόμοισιν ἐντριβὴς φανῇ.

Sophocles, Antigone 175-7 (tr. Lattimore).