Basil of Caesarea: Quotes about men

Basil of Caesarea was Christian Saint. Explore interesting quotes on men.
Basil of Caesarea: 58   quotes 9   likes

“You must give heed unto virtue, O men, which swims forth even with a man who has suffered shipwreck, and, on his coming naked to land, will render him more honoured than the happy Phaeacians.”

Basil of Caesarea

Source: On Greek Literature, p. 397

Men , Suffering , Happiness

“There is nothing which a prudent man must shun more carefully than living with a view to popularity and giving serious thought to the things esteemed by the multitude, instead of making sound reason his guide of life, so that, even if he must gainsay all men and fall into disrepute and incur danger for the sake of what is honourable, he will in no wise choose to swerve from what has been recognized as right.”

Basil of Caesarea

Source: On Greek Literature, p. 429

Life , Men

“You should not surrender to these men once for all the rudders of your mind, as if of a ship, and follow them whithersoever they lead; rather, accepting from them only that which is useful, you should know that which ought to be overlooked. What, therefore, these things are, and how we shall distinguish between them, is the lesson which I shall teach you.”

Basil of Caesarea

"these men" refers to teachers and "the famous men of the ancients," p. 381
On Greek Literature

Men

“To be a dandy and get the name of being one ought, I maintain, to be considered by persons so inclined just as disgraceful as to keep company with harlots or to seduce other men’s wives. For what difference should it make, at least to a man of sense, whether he is clothed in a costly robe or wears a cheap workman’s cloak, so long as what he has on gives adequate protection against the cold of winter and the heat of summer? And in all other matters likewise, one ought not to be furnished out more elaborately than need requires, nor to be more solicitous for the body than is good for the soul. For it is no less a reproach to a man, who is truly worthy of that appellation, to be a dandy and a pamperer of the body than to be ignoble in his attitude towards any other vice. For to take all manner of pains that his body may be as beautiful as possible is not the mark of a man who either knows himself or understands that wise precept: “That which is seen is not the man, but there is need of a certain higher wisdom which will enable each of us, whoever he is, to recognize himself.””

Basil of Caesarea

Source: On Greek Literature, p. 417

Wisdom , Men , Pain , Beauty

“The very beginning of the soul’s purgation is tranquility, in which the tongue is not given to discussing the affairs of men, nor the eyes to contemplating rosy cheeks or comely bodies, nor the ears to lowering the tone of the soul by listening to songs whose sole object is to amuse, or to words spoken by wits and buffoons—a practice which above all things tends to relax the tone of the soul.”

Basil of Caesarea

vol. 1, p. 13
Letters

Men , Soul