Friday, April 12, 2024

What Sages Said

“Homo liber de nulla re minus, quam de morte cogitat, et ejus sapientia non mortis, sed vitae meditatio est.”

A free man thinks of death least of all things; and his wisdom is a meditation not of death but of life.

 

Spinoza - Ethics, Part IV, Prop. LXVII


季路问事鬼神。子曰:‘未能事人,焉能事鬼?’‘敢问死。’曰:‘未知生,焉知死?’”(《论语·先进》)

The disciple Ji-Lu asked about serving the spirits, to which Confucius answered, "Before you know how to serve people, how can you serve spirits?"  Ji-Lu asked again about death, to which Confucius answered, "I do not even understand life.  How do I have time to understand death?".

- The Analects

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