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Be as you wish to seem.

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The unexamined life is not worth living.

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I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled [poets] to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prop...more

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Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.

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For the poet is a light and winged and holy thing, and there is no invention in him until he has been inspired and is out of his senses, and the mind ...more

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The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.

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God takes away the minds of poets, and uses them as his ministers, as he also uses diviners and holy prophets, in order that we who hear them may know...more

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...I have had a remarkable experience. In the past the prophetic voice to which I have become accustomed has always been my constant companion, opposi...more