c. 570-495 BC
Pythagoras
Philosopher and mathematician from Samos who founded a community in southern Italy with a strict way of life. Later followers wrote the Golden Verses in his tradition.
Every line we carry
Each one links to its source, what it means, and the shirt in any of our looks.
- Before sleep: Where did I slip? What did I do? What did I skip?
Epictetus tells his students to keep these Pythagorean lines at hand: do not let sleep close your eyes until you have gone over each act of the day, asking where you went wrong, what you did, and what duty you left undone. Three questions, every night. It is the oldest daily review in the West.
Golden Verses 40-42, quoted by Epictetus, Discourses 3.10.2-3, our translation from the Greek
- Friends share everything. Friendship is equality.
Diogenes Laertius says Pythagoras was the first to say that friends hold things in common and that friendship is equality. His students pooled their property. A real friendship has no boss and no ledger.
Diogenes Laertius 8.10, our translation from the Greek
- Don't swear by the gods. Make your own word worth trusting.
Pythagoras told his followers not to swear oaths by the gods, but to train themselves to be believable on their own. If you need to swear, your word is already in trouble. Build a record that makes oaths unnecessary.
Diogenes Laertius 8.22, our translation from the Greek
- Child is spring. Youth, summer. Grown man, autumn. Old man, winter.
Pythagoras divided life into four stages of twenty years and matched them to the seasons. Each season has its own work and its own beauty. Know which one you are in and live it fully.
Diogenes Laertius 8.10, our translation from the Greek