Symbol 37; This was long thought by many to be simply a dietary proscription, and often ridiculed, but many consider it to have originally been intended as advice against getting involved in politics, for voting on issues in his time was often done by using differently colored beans. Others have stated that it might signify a more general admonition against relying on the votes of people to determine truths of reality. The explanation provided in the translation used here states: "This Symbol admonishes us to beware of everything which is corruptive of our converse with the gods and divine prophecy."
The Symbols
Variant: Abstain from animals.
“Abstain from beans; that is, keep out of public offices, for anciently the choice of the officers of state was made by beans.”
Moralia, Of the Training of Children
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Plutarch 251
ancient Greek historian and philosopher 46–127Related quotes
“The difference between a cow and a bean is a bean can begin an adventure.”
Source: Into the Woods
Chicago Evening Post, October 5, 1895. Excerpted in Finley Peter Dunne and Mr. Dooley: The Chicago Years https://books.google.com/books?id=sbgfBgAAQBAJ&lpg=PA125&dq=%22politics%20ain't%20bean-bag%22&pg=PA125#v=onepage&q=%22politics%20ain't%20bean-bag%22&f=false by Charles Fanning (1978).
“He's hit the beans on toast.”
Interview on Rileys' News http://www.rileys.co.uk/news/240.
Letter accepting the nomination for governor of New York (October 1882).
"The Jelly-Bean"
Quoted, Tales of the Jazz Age (1922)
Ashby v. White (1703), 2 Raym. 956.
Ashby v. White (1703)
House of Commons' Hansard http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm071128/debtext/71128-0003.htm#71128-0003.htm_spnew0, 28 November 2007.
2007