Tao Te Ching

The Power of Goodness, the Wisdom Beyond Words
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Pythagorus

(of Samos)

570 – 495 BCE

"The most influential philosopher of all time"

The ancient Greeks called Pythagoras “the philosopher.” He discovered the numerical relationship between musical notes, the “music of the spheres,” gave geometry its main form, the Pythagorean theorem, and the name cosmos to the world. An elemental influence on Plato (The Republic considered based on the vegetarian, communistic community Pythagoras established) and the first to teach that the world is round and revolves around the sun, his influence extends to all of Western philosophy, Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, mathematics, architecture, sculpture, art and music. Bertrand Russell considered him the most influential philosopher of all time.

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Golden Verses of Pythagoras Χρύσεα

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Quotes by Pythagorus (18 quotes)

“The oldest, shortest words - 'yes' and 'no' - are those which require the most thought.”

from Golden Verses of Pythagoras Χρύσεα

Themes: Paradox

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“Beans have a soul.”

from Golden Verses of Pythagoras Χρύσεα

Themes: Basic Goodness

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“Do not talk a little on many subjects, but much on a few.”

from Golden Verses of Pythagoras Χρύσεα

Themes: Strategy

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“There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres.”

from Golden Verses of Pythagoras Χρύσεα

Chapters: 41. Distilled Life

Themes: Music Science

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“Rest satisfied with doing well, and leave others to talk of you as they please.”

from Golden Verses of Pythagoras Χρύσεα

Themes: True Self

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“Do not say a little in many words but a great deal in a few.”

from Golden Verses of Pythagoras Χρύσεα

Chapters: 2. The Wordless Teachings

Themes: Less is More

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“In anger we should refrain both from speech and action.”

from Golden Verses of Pythagoras Χρύσεα

Themes: Anger

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“As soon as laws are necessary for men, they are no longer fit for freedom.”

from Golden Verses of Pythagoras Χρύσεα

Chapters: 53. Shameless Thieves

Themes: Law and Order

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“Educate the children and it won't be necessary to punish the men.”

from Golden Verses of Pythagoras Χρύσεα

Chapters: 38. Fruit Over Flowers

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“The wind is blowing, adore the wind.”

from Golden Verses of Pythagoras Χρύσεα

Chapters: 34. An Unmoored Boat

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“Be silent or let thy words be worth more than silence.”

from Golden Verses of Pythagoras Χρύσεα

Chapters: 15. Inscrutability

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“No man is free who cannot command himself.”

from Golden Verses of Pythagoras Χρύσεα

Themes: Freedom

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“A man is never as big as when he is on his knees to help a child.”

from Golden Verses of Pythagoras Χρύσεα

Chapters: 36. The Small, Dark Light

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“Let no one persuade you by word or deed to do or say whatever is not best for you.”

from Golden Verses of Pythagoras Χρύσεα

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“Do not say a little in many words but a great deal in a few.”

from Golden Verses of Pythagoras Χρύσεα

Chapters: 60. Less is More

Themes: Simplicity

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“As long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other.”

from Golden Verses of Pythagoras Χρύσεα

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“Before all, be real. Only the truth gives the power of Orpheus’ lyre to the word.”

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“All things are numbers.”

Themes: Science

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Quotes about Pythagorus (7 quotes)

“Speak what you think now in hard words and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today—you shall be sure to be misunderstood but is it so bad to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803 – 1882 CE
Champion of individualism
from Representative Men (1850)

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“Pythagoras changed philosophy into the form of a liberal doctrine, considered its principles in a more exalted manner; and investigated its theorems immaterially and intellectually, invented a treatise of such things as cannot be explained in geometry, and discovered the constitution of the mundane figures.”

Proclus Lycaeus Πρόκλος ὁ Διάδοχος 412 – 485 CE
"The most influential Ancient Greek philosopher you've never heard of"

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“Pythagoras is one of the most interesting and puzzling men in history… a combination of Einstein and Mrs. Eddy, he was intellectually one of the most important men that ever lived… I do not know of any other man who has been as influential”

Bertrand Russell 1872 – 1970 CE
“20th century Voltaire”
from History of Western Philosophy

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“What is imagination? Psychologists tell us that it is the plastic or creative power of the soul; but materialists confound it with fancy... Imagination, Pythagoras maintained to be the remembrance of precedent spiritual, mental, and physical states, while fancy is the disorderly production of the material brain.”

Blavatsky, Helena Еле́на Петро́вна Блава́тская 1831 – 1891 CE
Co-founder of Theosophy
from Isis Unveiled

Themes: Imagination

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“Pythagoras, like Saint Francis, preached to animals. In the society that he founded, men and women were admitted on equal terms; property was held in common, and there was a common way of life.”

Bertrand Russell 1872 – 1970 CE
“20th century Voltaire”
from History of Western Philosophy

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“A mystery enwrapped Pythagoras, the preacher of vegetarianism; no philosopher since him has pondered on the essence of the world, without recurring to his teaching. Silent fellowships were founded, remote from turmoil of the world, to carry out this doctrine as a sanctification from sin and misery.”

Wilhelm Richard Wagner 1813 – 1883 CE via William Ashton Ellis
from Religion and Art (1880)

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“Pythagoras… a man of rare knowledge, most skilled in all manner of wise works, a man who had won the utmost wealth of wisdom; for whensoever he strained with all his mind, he easily saw everything of all the things that are”

Empedocles 490 – 430 BCE
"The father of rhetoric"—Aristotle

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