“Ask counsel of him who rules himself well.”
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
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Leonardo Da Vinci363
Italian Renaissance polymath 1452–1519Related quotes
“On him does death lie heavily, who, but too well known to all, dies to himself unknown.”
Illi mors gravis incubat
Qui notus nimis omnibus
Ignotus moritur sibi
Illi mors gravis incubat
Qui notus nimis omnibus
Ignotus moritur sibi
Thyestes, lines 401-403; (Chorus).
Alternate translation: Death weighs on him who is known to all, but dies unknown to himself. (The Philisophical Life by James Miller).
Tragedies
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher
Bk. III, ch. 11.
1840s, Past and Present (1843)
William Penn (1644–1718) English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, early Quaker and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania
Letter to Peter the Great, the Czar of Russia, 2 July 1698, in Samuel McPherson Janney, The Life of William Penn (Philadelphia, 1852), p. 407
Eugene V. Debs (1855–1926) American labor and political leader
The Canton, Ohio Speech, Anti-War Speech (1918)
Adelaide Anne Procter (1825–1864) English poet and songwriter
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 597.
Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War
The Second World War, Volume IV : The Hinge of Fate (1951).
Post-war years (1945–1955)
“I ask, on this bondless land
Who rules over man's destiny?”
Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
Changsha (1925)
Context: Alone I stand in the autumn cold
On the tip of Orange Island,
Xiang flowing northward;
I see a thousand hills crimsoned through
By their serried woods deep-dyed,
And a hundred barges vying
Over crystal blue waters.
Eagles cleave the air,
Fish glide under the shallow water;
Under freezing skies a million creatures contend in freedom.
Brooding over this immensity,
I ask, on this bondless land
Who rules over man's destiny?
Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright
No. 243 (8 December 1711).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
“Who himself cannot control
Why should he o'er others rule?”
Gil Vicente (1456–1536) Portuguese writer
Quem não é senhor de si
Porque o será de ninguém?
Farsa dos Físicos (1512?), tr. Aubrey F. G. Bell