Provocative and Contemplative Quotations
With author comments and observations
by
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GOOD The good man sees the truth in each class of things, being as it were the norm and measure of them. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle believed ethics was an art that could not be universalized. So, in the “class” of justice, for example, the good man will find truth in the circumstances of the case. The answer to the question of whether something is just or unjust lies in the “norm and measure” of that case and not by appealing to some universal ideal. GOODWILL A good Jack makes a good Jill. Proverb. Who we are is due, in part, to our environment. If we are treated ill, we become people disposed to ill will, and if we are treated well, we become people of good will. If you want a good Jill or Jack, be a good Jack or Jill. GOSSIP A dog that fetches a bone carries a bone. Anonymous. The gossiper who tells us of others also tells others of us. Do not be conveyors of hearsay and avoid those who are. GOVERNMENT Wise and frugal government…restrains men from injuring one another, leaves them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is good government. Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address. The quote speaks for itself. Those who believe government is the solution to our problems do not understand the nature of freedom. The government is best which governs least. Thomas Paine. The call for less government is the call for freedom; the call for more government is the call for servility.
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About the Book
Emerson wrote that thinking is hard to do, which is why so few do it. Socrates asserted the unexamined life is not worth living, Franklin pondered prudentiality, Sartre examined the existentialist void, Boëthius described the wheel of fortune, Cicero mused on old age, Shakespeare dramatized revenge, La Rochefoucauld unveiled vice’s tribute to virtue, Montaigne said no wind works for those with no port of destination and Sophocles explained it is a mistake to wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been. For millennia brilliant historic thinkers have pondered timeless truths about human nature. Many provocative and contemplative ideas have resonated through time, proving as meaningful today as in the past. This book offers a compendium of thought-provoking quotations along with cogent author comments. It is a celebration of thinking—and thought never goes out of fashion.
About the Author
AUTHOR DESCRIPTION John Bowman lives in Portland, Oregon, where he raised three daughters with his wife, Kathy. He has been a commercial real estate broker for forty years in Portland, where he owns a real estate company. He is the author of numerous books on philosophy, real estate, politics, sports, words, Stoicism and humor. He received a Bachelor of Arts in 1973 from Whitman College, a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy in 1993 from Portland State University and a Master of Interdisciplinary Studies in philosophy and history from Oregon State University in 2010. He is an avid, lifelong reader of books, from which many of these quotations are derived. BOOKS BY JOHN L. BOWMAN Reflections on Man and the Human Condition Selected Topics in Philosophy Nobody’s Perfect How to Succeed in Commercial Real Estate Socialism in America God’s Lecture A Reader’s Companion Stoicism, Enkrasia and Happiness Aegean Summer The Art of Volleyball Hitting Graduate School