“But he who neither thinks for himself nor learns from others, is a failure as a man.”

Source: Works and Days and Theogony

Last update April 30, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "But he who neither thinks for himself nor learns from others, is a failure as a man." by Hesiod?

Hesiod61

Greek poet

Related quotes

“That man is best who sees the truth himself. Good too is he who listens to wise counsel. But who is neither wise himself nor willing to ponder wisdom is not worth a straw.”

Hesiod Greek poet

“Man—every man—is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others; he must live for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself; he must work for his rational self-interest, with the achievement of his own happiness as the highest moral purpose of his life.”

Ayn Rand (1905–1982) Russian-American novelist and philosopher

The Ayn Rand Column ‘Introducing Objectivism’

“Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes.”

John Dewey (1859–1952) American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer

“I think he who knows himself will know accurately, not the opinion of others about him, but what he is in reality… he ought to discover within himself what is right for him to do and not learn it from without…”

Julian (emperor) (331–363) Roman Emperor, philosopher and writer

As quoted in The Works of the Emperor Julian (1923) by Wilmer Cave France Wright, p. 91
General sources

“He feared neither God, nor devil, nor man, nor wind, nor sea, nor his own conscience. And I believe he hated everybody and everything. But I think he was afraid to die. I believe I am the only man who ever stood up to him.”

Joseph Conrad book The Shadow Line

Referring to Mr. Burns. Compare to Heart of Darkness' manager: "He was becoming confidential now, but I fancy my unresponsive attitude must have exasperated him at last, for he judged it necessary to inform me he feared neither God nor devil, let alone any mere man. I said I could see that very well..."
The Shadow Line (1915)

“This man, I say, is most perfect who shall have understood everything for himself, after having devised what may be best afterward and unto the end: and good again is he likewise who shall have complied with one advising him well: but whoso neither himself hath understanding, nor when he hears another, lays it to heart, he on the other hand is a worthless man.”

Hesiod book Works and Days

Source: Works and Days (c. 700 BC), line 293.

“It is the act of an ill-instructed man to blame others for his own bad condition; it is the act of one who has begun to be instructed, to lay the blame on himself; and of one whose instruction is completed, neither to blame another, nor himself.”

Epictetus (50–138) philosopher from Ancient Greece

5
tr. George Long (1888)
The Enchiridion (c. 135)

“The truly proud man knows neither superiors nor inferiors. The first he does not admit of: the last he does not concern himself about.”

William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English writer

No. 112
Characteristics, in the manner of Rochefoucauld's Maxims (1823)

“Nor is he the wisest man who never proved himself a fool.”

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) British poet laureate

Stanza 124
Locksley Hall Sixty Years After (1886)

“That man is prudent who neither hopes nor fears anything from the uncertain events of the future.”

Anatole France (1844–1924) French writer

Il est sage de ne mettre ni crainte, ni espérance dans l’avenir incertain. <br class="br"> L’Étui de nacre: Le Procurateur de Judée http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Le_Procurateur_de_Jud%C3%A9e [Mother of Pearl: The Procurator of Judea] (1892)

“But he who neither thinks for himself nor learns from others, is a failure as a man.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Hesiod61

Related quotes

Related topics