Quotes about Ancients

To the Ancients, Friendship seemed the happiest and most fully human of all loves... The modern world in comparison, ignores it.

You have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not murder’ and ‘Anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’

Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’

This is why the ancients were commended.

Hold firmly that our faith is identical with that of the ancients. Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church.

Hold firmly that our faith is identical with that of the ancients. Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church.

They came to know the night skys well. Western eyes that read more geometric constructions than those names given by the ancients.

Polybius:     Since the masses of the people are inconstant, full of unruly desires, passionate, and reckless of consequences, they must be filled with fears to keep them in order. The ancients did well, therefore, to invent gods, and the belief in punishment after death.

The same thing which is now called Christian religion existed among the ancients. They have begun to call 'Christian' the true religion which existed before.

The ancients rightly called this internal longing for wholeness "fate" or "destiny," the "inner voice" or the "call of the gods." It has an inevitability, authority, and finality to it, and was at the heart of almost all mythology. Almost all heroes heard an inner voice that spoke to them. In fact, their heroism was in their ability to hear that voice and to risk following it—wherever!