Morality
Jesus Christ
You know the precepts: “Do not commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not speak false testimony. Do not deceive. Honor your father and mother.” (Mark 10:19 [CPDV]); praecepta nosti ne adulteres ne occidas ne fureris ne falsum testimonium dixeris ne fraudem feceris honora patrem tuum et matrem (Evangelium secundum Marcum 10:19 [Vulgata])
And why do you not, even among yourselves, judge what is just? (Luke 12:57 [CPDV]); quid autem et a vobis ipsis non iudicatis quod iustum est (Evangelium secundum Lucam 12:57 [Vulgata])
And they said, “Nothing.” Then he said to them: "But now, let whoever has money take it, and likewise with provisions. And whoever does not have these, let him sell his coat and buy a sword. (Luke 22:36 [CPDV]); dixit ergo eis sed nunc qui habet sacculum tollat similiter et peram et qui non habet vendat tunicam suam et emat gladium (Evangelium secundum Lucam 22:36 [Vulgata])
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of virtue, and of love, and of self-restraint. (II Timothy 1:7 [CPDV]); non enim dedit nobis Deus spiritum timoris sed virtutis et dilectionis et sobrietatis (Epistula II ad Timotheum 1:7 [Vulgata])
But test all things. Hold on to whatever is good. (I Thessalonians 5:21 [CPDV]); omnia autem probate quod bonum est tenete (Epistula I ad Thessalonicenses 5:21 [Vulgata])
Thucydides - The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools.
Thomas Aquinas - It is written (Ex. 20:15): ‘Thou shalt not steal.’ … If anyone consider what is meant by theft, he will find that it is sinful on two counts. First, because of its opposition to justice, which gives to each one what is his, so that for this reason theft is contrary to justice, through being a taking of what belongs to another. Secondly, because of the guile or fraud committed by the thief, by laying hands on another’s property secretly and cunningly. Wherefore it is evident that every theft is a sin.
Wisdom
- Plautus - Nothing but heaven itself is better than a friend who is really a friend.
- Hippocrates - [The] art is long, life is short, opportunity fleeting, experiment dangerous, judgment difficult.
- Hippocrates - Before you heal someone, ask him if he is willing to give up the things that made him sick.
- Thomas Paine - Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.
- Benjamin Franklin - They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
- Douglas Horton - The art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity.
Epistemology
- Richard Feynman - Reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.
- Vergilius - Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.
- Richard Hamming - The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers.
- Edsger Wybe Dijkstra - Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.
Motivation
- R. M. Nixon - The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.