Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
Aristotle, 9.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 5: The Peripatetics
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
Antisthenes (-444–-365 BC) Greek philosopher
§ 4
From Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius
Plutarch (46–127) ancient Greek historian and philosopher
Whether an Aged Man ought to meddle in State Affairs
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Stobaeus Ancient Greek anthologist
iii. 3. 52
Quotes by and about Diogenes
“How, then, shall I respond to him who asks, “What was God doing before he made heaven and earth?” I do not answer, as a certain one is reported to have done facetiously (shrugging off the force of the question). “He was preparing hell,” he said, “for those who pry too deep.” It is one thing to see the answer; it is another to laugh at the questioner--and for myself I do not answer these things thus. More willingly would I have answered, “I do not know what I do not know,” than cause one who asked a deep question to be ridiculed--and by such tactics gain praise for a worthless answer.”
Ecce respondeo dicenti, 'quid faciebat deus antequam faceret caelum et terram?' respondeo non illud quod quidam respondisse perhibetur, ioculariter eludens quaestionis violentiam: 'alta,' inquit, 'scrutantibus gehennas parabat.' aliud est videre, aliud ridere: haec non respondeo. libentius enim responderim, 'nescio quod nescio' quam illud unde inridetur qui alta interrogavit et laudatur qui falsa respondit.
Aurelius Augustinus book Confessions
Ecce respondeo dicenti, 'quid faciebat deus antequam faceret caelum et terram?' respondeo non illud quod quidam respondisse perhibetur, ioculariter eludens quaestionis violentiam: 'alta,' inquit, 'scrutantibus gehennas parabat.'
aliud est videre, aliud ridere: haec non respondeo. libentius enim responderim, 'nescio quod nescio' quam illud unde inridetur qui alta interrogavit et laudatur qui falsa respondit.
Book XI, Chapter XII; translation by E.B. Pusey
Confessions (c. 397)
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
Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer
Source: Jellicoe Road
Ursula K. Le Guin book Four Ways to Forgiveness
"A Man of the People", p. 106
Four Ways to Forgiveness (1995)