Category: Books by Quote

OK, the fifth and final part of a series, on quotes of the guy that went from Publius to Publilius Syrus in a century, after having been forgotten [Oh! How unduly! How unfortunate! Hence this series] for a century or fifteen. As they’re handily numbered already and in fitting English (not too modern i.e. simplified, dumbed down), but quite a few may be enhanced by some frills of mine, I’ll take mine from an 1856 translation:

800. It is the height of folly to blame without knowledge.
So… Any blame on me can be retorted with this. Remember also the earlier quote about the virtuous man not being touched the slightest by false accusations. Yup, combine these two re me.

806. It matters not with what purpose you do it, if the act itself be bad.
So, utilitarians are wrong. They are. Now go back and reread (over and over again) John Rawls until you finally get that.

813. A man has as many enemies in his own house as he has slaves.
Yes Celebrity CEO, your number might be up any moment.

821. A frog would leap from a throne of gold into a puddle.
So, you’re free to return to where you liked life. … yes, go ahead and make room so I can return to my destined place.

852. The eyes and ears of the mob are often false witnesses.
So don’t trust statistics, polls, or popular opinion.

867. The sons of the blacksmith are not frightened at sparks.
So, learn a bit how to code! Otherwise, you’ll have to be aloof all your life about e.g., app building, to overshout your fear for it.

881. It is late to devise expedients when the danger is at hand.
Basically, the foundation of and need for risk management. Of the sane sort, not what the other 98% preach.

903. It is folly to censure him whom all the world adores.
Even in a friendly way ..? A word to the wise, will be understood by those, only. The adored by the mob, is suspect enough already ..?

910. It is folly to punish your neighbour by fire when you live next door.
Uh-huh. But what if you want to disrupt in order to build a business …?

919. A lax government can not maintain its authority.
Beware to slack when you lead …

920. A boastful prosperity will prepare its own fall.
So, don’t boast about your sheer utter luck..!

955. One will agree with you sooner than many.
There’s no pleasing everyone. Aim high, but be content with lower achievements.

960. Either be silent, or say something better than silence.
So, silence may be golden but if (big if, in your case, when, in mine) you have sparkling diamonds to offer, do speak.

974. It is better to trust virtue than fortune.
Ah, this against the introductory musings of this (in Dutch); where consultants and advisors of all sorts are better believed/trusted because they show off with bigger cars, unfunctionally smart suits, etc. – which is posing of course, fake it till (if?) you make it. But will disappoint. Then hire me and you finally get the stellar actual performance you wanted.

983. Conceal your opulence if you want to avoid envy.
And, in many other Syrus lines, you read: Envy will in the end get the better of your fortune…

985. Flattery was once a vice, now it is a virtue.
And still is (considered such), wrongly.

1047. You are not happy if the rabble do not make sport of you.
This goes within trade groups as well. If the rabble ‘colleagues’ or ‘peers’, the meek able-only-to-follow’ers blame your creative ideas, you can be happy to know you are right and not they.

1057. Money is a servant if you know how to use it; if not, it is a master.
Notice ‘use’: Not invest to merely make more of it, but to achieve something for the betterment of society…

1058. When we speak evil of others, we generally condemn ourselves.
Speak no evil…

1074. If you obey against your will, you are a slave, if of your will, you are an assistant.
Which goes for (having to) obeying to totalitarian bureacracy, and possibly being an accomplice (of a grave evil) ..!

And… we’re… done. Enjoy reading the entire thing! Leaving you with:

[Recognisably but often overlooked, Calatrava, Toronto]

OK, the fourth part of a series, on quotes of the guy that went from Publius to Publilius Syrus in a century, after having been forgotten [Oh! How unduly! How unfortunate! Hence this series] for a century or fifteen. As they’re handily numbered already and in fitting English (not too modern i.e. simplified, dumbed down), but quite a few may be enhanced by some frills of mine, I’ll take mine from an 1856 translation. Getting on steam. Series 451-800 today:

451. It is bad management when we suffer Fortune to be our guide.
How far-sighted. What an accurate description of just about any corporate ‘strategy’ (quod non). When your already had the eerie feeling of this saying (probably without actually having worded it this way), notice the ‘suffer’ part which is your feeling.

453. Supreme power may be lost by an abuse of power.
A word to the wise. And to supreme powers everywhere.

469. It is a bad plan that admits of no modification.
Slack resources! Any project success chance is inversely proportional to its slack resources!

475. When the ill-inclined cannot do mischief, they still dream of it.
Aint-fraudsters beware. And InfoSec’ers as well. 100% security is a pipe dream.

480. When you are at sea, keep clear of the land.
I.e., don’t go into harbour when you’re enterpreneuring.

501. To depend on another’s nod for a livelihood, is a sad destiny.
The Levi’s one 😐 but true, these days when you think of multiple hamburger jobs per capita not even providing a living wage.

520. Seek to please many, and you seek a failure.
P.T. Barnum was correct. And, see the labor de-specialisation of today, coupled with the (g)local focus of sufficiency over world domination.

561. There is no fruit which is not bitter before it is ripe.
So, don’t IPO too early. Also, flip-sidedly don’t invest too early.

571. It is only the ignorant who despise education.
When advice is offered, take it. But chew on it [this was somewhere else in Syrus’ but skipped for obviousness].

573. He can best avoid a snare who knows how to set one.
It takes a thief, but skewed to the positive. (?)

581. It is not every question that deserves an answer.
You keep questioning me.

586. No scar is dishonourable which is a mark of our courage.
Personally, agree. See my resume. To have tried to live (work) virtuously, is better than to have settled in under the wicked.

596. You cannot put the same shoe on every foot.
Beware, you ‘standard’ setters!

597. Do not suppose everything will come to pass as you have arranged for it.
See some previous issue of this series; Von Moltke.

599. Don’t consider how many you can please, but whom.
Licking up, kicking down, or be ware to target the virtuous only ..?

601. It is not safe to play a game of wits with kings.
I beg to differ as I’m the court jester – knowing how far (not) to push it.

613. Crimes are most easily concealed in the midst of a crowd.
Hide in plain sight, but duck and disguise.

632. A cheerful obedience is universal, when the worthy bear rule.
By smart, wise rules-setting, compliance needs not be enforced but follows voluntarily.

645. By tolerating many abuses, we encourage the assaults of such as we cannot tolerate.
Zero tolerance ..? There’s a stretch bandwidth between some and many..!

673. he who has plenty of pepper, will pepper his cabbage.
Nothing on turnips, though.

691. Freedom alone is the source of noble action.
Hence, get free. Then act out of virtue (which is possible for the free only).

699. When you have good materials, have good workmen.
So when you’re the material, hope for a good boss…

715. God looks at the clean hands, not the full ones.
One’s last dress has no pockets!

750. Pardon one offense, and you encourage the commission of many more.
Oh. Goes together with 645. Zero tolerance, still ..??

766. It is the height of eloquence to speak in defense of the innocent.
A bad spell on the equity of court judgements … if it takes the pinnacle of eloquence to mount a defense that should’ve been obvious.

787. What do you need of money if you cannot use it?
Investing money to make more of it, is inproductive to the greater good!

796. The wise man guards against future evils as if they were present.
Risk-manage wisely, my friend!

To close it all off, for now!

[Art to be appreciated; Louvre]

OK, the third part of a series, on quotes of the guy that went from Publius to Publilius Syrus in a century, after having been forgotten [Oh! How unduly! How unfortunate! Hence this series] for a century or fifteen. As they’re handily numbered already and in fitting English (not too modern i.e. simplified, dumbed down), but quite a few may be enhanced by some frills of mine, I’ll take mine from an 1856 translation. Series 255-450 today:

255. The master is a slave when he fears those whom he rules.
No end to pointing at the politicians who overshout their fears on this one.

262. You should hammer your iron when it is glowing hot.
Ah. This is a proverb still in the low lands. Elsewhere, too ..?

266. Confidence, like life, never returns to him whom she has once left.
A word to the wise; and to youth in their inexperienced (due to total shielding off society by tiger mom/dad upbringing) happy-go-lucky ‘disruption’ maturing..?

271. Fortune makes a fool of him whom she favors too much.
Politicians again. Very much so. And Fortune’s wheel will turn!

284. It is a fraud to receive the trust which you cannot return.
Accountant, beware.

293. A noble steed is not annoyed by the barking of dogs.
Agree. The (mental) rabble shall not concern me.

294. The gladiator lays his plans after he enters the arena.
There you go again, you analysis paralysis project planners! “Even the best planned-out strategies crumble at first contact with the enemy” © Field Marshall von Moltke the Elder.

304. The anger of a righteous man is the anger most to be dreaded.
Which is to be understood in the ethics of a fully grown mature man (of that time), where there is a distinction between anger and evil; the anger is justified due to being aimed at a character flaw of the receiver. Not of the sender. To correct out of virtue, not to do harm for its own sake.

328. Honors are soiled when they invest the unworthy.
As we see when those utterly inproductive to society (certainly after deduction of incomes received oft not earned!) get the medals where the true society serving are neglected. The medal becomes a blemish.

331. To submit to necessity involves no disgrace.
To be sure, the necessity should not be made up as it often is. But, true, as necessity trumps character.

332. Honors adorn the worthy; they are a stigma to the undeserving.
But then, see 328. above.

338. When two do the same thing, it is not the same thing after all.
… A deep one, with many inroads into latter-day Disruption culture (wide sense).

351. A laugh at the unfortunate is a wrong done him.
This should be taken to heart by the 1% that looks down on the unfortunate that tried (really) but were unlucky. Oh … “heart … 1%” …

357. A cock has great influence over its own dung-hill.
Take that, those of you in charge!

358. Anyone can hold the helm, when the sea is calm.
Oh how all the boastful CEOs failed / fail, when the wind (of change) picked up!

369. A truly noble nature cannot be insulted.
Try me. Errrmmm…

371. A noble soul has no ear for unjust reproaches.
Smells like 293 and 369 to me. And, guard against the many tactics.

377. However humble your enemy, it is wise to fear him.
Yes indeed. Accidents sit in the smallest of corners. Disregards grow their anger (exponentially).

394. Crimes are encouraged by petty offences.
The basic tenet of fraud prevention. But, society cannot function if no petty offence is overlooked. But indeed, leads to the biggest of accountancy scams – though the most heinous of crimes being having bad character(s) at the helm, is the start of those.

404. Every excellence continues unknown, which fame does not blaze abroad.
An intelligent way of saying that no preacher is followed in his home town. Are there any of you who notice the Syrus numbering in a sense says the same? ‘404 Excellence Not Found’ here.

414. Libertinage and moral worth never go together.
So, when one’s off well enough to live a life of Liberal Arts (liberal read as ‘free’ of labor requirements, for income), these should be directed to the public good, not to alleviating one’s own idleness only. Remember Kevin Spacey’s “When life has been good to you, we have a duty to send the elevator back down.”

416. When vice is approved, it will soon become intolerable.
Bureacrats take note – your totalitarian process focus is the former.

425. When the lion is dead, even puppies can bite him.
Memento mori, you haughty; this reflects on careers also!

426. He who chases two hares will catch neither.
Good business advice. If the hare chased, isn’t efficiency because that is not an ulterior motive.

430. Dignities heaped on the undeserving, are a badge of disgrace.
A combination of 328 and 332 above ..?

437. The greater our strength, the less we know of the power of misfortune.
After Machiavelli, still valid! Because the strength of a man is not his worldly powers but his character.

442. Mighty rivers may easily be leaped at their source.
So… When negotiating or reconciling, by all means do go back to the underlying values, and dig deeper, and deeper, until you hit common ground. Build from there.

443. Excessive indignation is sometimes evidence of a great crime.
FIFA, anyone ..? True. Because bad character shines through, as mirror to 371 above.

To close it all off, for now!

[Yes air ducts could be designed boring, but why not like this? Paris La Défense]

OK, the second part of a series, on quotes of the guy that went from Publius to Publilius Syrus in a century, after having been forgotten [Oh! How unduly! How unfortunate! Hence this series] for a century or fifteen. As they’re handily numbered already and in fitting English (not too modern i.e. simplified, dumbed down), but quite a few may be enhanced by some frills of mine, I’ll take mine from an 1856 translation:

171. What happens to one man may happen to all.
So you’re never above another, also certainly not when the other experiences misfortune.
Also: If something can happen to one, there’s no safeguard against it happening to you, too.

178. The gain acquired at the expense of reputation, should be counted a loss.
That’s for the bonus grabbers.

185. While we often stop to think, we miss our opportunity.
186. Deliberation should be protracted, when the decision is to be final.
There’s a fine line between these contradicting and being insightful. Go look / think for it.

191. Whatever you can lose, you should reckon of no account.
Just a word for the (wanting to be) wise. Don’t attach.

196. Turn a deaf ear to calumnious reports.
Indeed. Calm down.

199. Reflect on every thing you hear, but believe only on proof.
Encouraging Close Reading and deconstructivist analysis of motives.

216. There is no need of spurs when the horse is running away.
So, in the flat interpretation, don’t overfund start-ups that look like going somewhere. In the deeper interpretation, don’t throw money at everything that moves.

221. An inglorious life is the next thing to death.
Live like there is no tomorrow, as there may not be. Don’t miser until death.

223. The party to which the rabble belongs is ever the worst.
Eternal. Certainly today. Everywhere.

237. Even when there is no law, there is conscience.
There you go, you totalitarian bureauc-rats! Conscience should prevail, not procedure.

239. Pecuniary gains first suggested to men to make Fortune a goddess.
In its truthfulness, (only) a step towards seeing the folly of reverence to those accidentally, most temporarily favoured by her.

242. The wise man corrects his own error by observing those of others.
Indeed, there’s no use to fail repeatedly to learn a little, as modern Disruptionists would have it. That’s just stupid.

254. Many consult their reputation, but few their conscience.
And then, reputation … bestowed, worthy?

To close it all off, for now!

[In similar vein]

OK, as the first part of a series, possibly, on quotes of the guy that went from Publius to Publilius Syrus in a century, after having been forgotten [Oh! How unduly! How unfortunate! Hence this series] for a century or fifteen. As they’re handily numbered already and in fitting English (not too modern i.e. simplified, dumbed down), but quite a few may be enhanced by some frills of mine, I’ll take mine from an 1856 translation:

4. To dispute with a drunkard is to debate with an empty house.
I guess this one’s all about current-day 1%’ers, being drunk with their luck [yes, pure luck]

7. To do two things is to do neither.
In these apps-days of multitasking (quod non), who needs to explain the validity of this?

8. A hasty judgement is a first step to a recantation.
We’ll see many like these in the following series. Where even Syrus will sometimes seemingly (sic) contradict himself. But; True, remember the IBM motto.

14. Bitter for a free man is the bondage of debt.
Whereas originally, this regarded the bondage (serfdom, not slavery) that debtors might have fallen into, we all recognise the bondage of mortgages in particular on the free of mind (that jump jobs too often). Is there much difference? [No of course since I make the connection here…]

17. Every one excels in something in which another fails.
… But we’d want to see this more clearly in these times of jobless growth. Truly, all should find their own corner of Ricardon comparative advantage ..?

38. The loss which is unknown is no loss at all.
Just there, for the accountancy jokes – the known loss is perfectly OK for an auditor as it only needs to be journalised correctly and hey presto no problemo. And the loss unknown isn’t, at all, similar to a double secret.

46. We all seek to (know whether we shall) be rich; but no one asks whether he shall be good.
An interesting switch of we to he, and parenthesis mine! ;-|

60. Art avails nothing, when chance determines the issue.
Ah, there’s one for careful analysis and thinking through. What is art for, what can it achieve? And when art is meant to read as proficiency (diminishing much of the philosophical interest here), the answer is only slightly moderating; being: Skewing chance in your favour. Clearly.

64. If you can not become a harper, become a piper.
Which I interpret as: If you’re not called to the highest of abstract stations (still apt to provide diversion of even higher-minded higher-ups), then hone your craft at simpler, but much more satisfying trades for hugely larger (but simpler) crowds. No use in pursuing the impossible. [Therefore, this blog is for you …!]

65. When Gold argues the case, eloquence is impotent.
Don’t get me started on impotence and you. But do read that eloquence, of which having the right arguments is only a tiny but fundamental element, should be the decisive factor. Ah, as Cicero said “One should weigh the arguments, not count them.” but gold being so heavy, it tilts all balances.

67. Concert of action renders slight aid efficient.
I don’t read this as an invite for Free Riders as you might but as a support for swarm-like organisation(s) – this really should become available in English.

71. No amount of gain satifies Avarice.
Close to canonical, biblical, and as valid. In what way would society have a right to enforce the Ten Commandments ..?

76. A well-planned project often turns out ill.
Obvious to all 6B inhabitants of this planet, less the public/private civil servants that are enthousiastic about planning that takes the wrong ends of hope and analysis paralysis.

83. No one but a knave or a fool thinks a good deed thrown away.
“Do well and don’t look back.” Dutch proverb, after Luke 9:26. Should be part of any culture… Seriously; only those moneyed without culture, would look back i.e., want to derive wordly status from their good deeds if any and/or want direct return (as in: donating to culture in stead of to the really needy). What knaves they show themselves to be. And they are undeserving according to:

88. He who can not give, should not receive.
As there’s no valor in that man. Also demonstrated through the following:

91. He who boast of a favor bestowed, would like it back again.
But deserves, be worthy of, none of it.

104. A good reputation, even in darkness, keeps on shining.
The bling of the poser, is dulled even in sunlight. [own addition]

106. Money is worth something when good sense disburses it.
Ah, corrolary to 83, 88, and 91 above. So, be wise and intelligent, and give prudently.

111. A slothful enjoyment of it, is the worst part of prosperity.
This is a conclusion that needs no reasoning …

126. There is no sight in the eye, when the mind does not gaze.
How far-sighted (no pun intended) to see from 50BC the errors of current-day “big data analysis”.

135. The danger despised is the first to reach us.
An omen for ‘risk managers’ that tend to underweight ‘risks’ that haven’t materialised yet.

146. Consult your conscience, rather than public opinion.
Where political representatives and populism should diverge but too seldomly do.

To close it all off, for now!

[Afternoon tea at the Palm Court, Park Plaza NY of course; slightly crowded for Mother’s Day, simple phone pic]