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Theseus Quotes

Browse 31 quotes about Theseus.

Theseus Quotes

“He stands alone in hollow gloom, with the sound of his own breath whispering down unseen passages ahead and behind and to both sides, wondering how he stumbled into this blackest of all labyrinths. He entered by choice. We all do. Whether we are mapping the heavens or skulking the lanes of the underworld, whether we are hunting the imprisoned fiend or have ourselves become the monster, whether we are searching for what is lost or hiding what must never be found, we all round that first corner by choice - and by then, we are lost. You too. You must decide what is false and what is true, and what is true for me but not for you. We are wandering the mazes, all of us, and we cannot hope to escape until we learn to tell between what is real and what is real for someone else. There lies the madness, and the truth as well.”

PsychologyMadnessMonstersLabyrinthTheseus
Book:Pages of Pain
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“It was the perfect set. Theseus gave a great war cry and brought his sword arcing up toward Sheba’s throat - but the monster of the labyrinth lives inside us all. She is the dark, devouring hunger that is never sated, the creeping shadow that ever plays the fiend to our seraphim, the secret rage hidden in our hearts; deny her, and we become her slaves; fight her, and we make her invincible. By now, you must know that no monster can ever be killed, not really - […]”

PsychologyMonstersGreek MythologyDualityLabyrinthTheseus
Book:Pages of Pain
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“Menestheus, the son of Peteus, grandson of Orneus, and the great-grandson to Erechtheus, the first man that is recorded to have affected popularity and ingratiated himself with the multitude, stirred up and exasperated the most eminent men of the city, who had long borne a secret grudge to Theseus, conceiving that he had robbed them of their several little kingdoms and lordships, and, having pent them all up in one city, was using them as his subjects and slaves. He put also the meaner people into commotion, telling them, that, deluded with a mere dream of liberty, though indeed they were deprived both of that and of their proper homes and religious usages, instead of many good and gracious kings of their own, they had given themselves up to be lorded over by a new-comer and a stranger.”

MonarchyAthensTheseusAncient Greeks
Book:Plutarch's Lives: Volume I
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“English: "It is paradoxical that we do not consider the constant death of our cells as our own death, while we do consider the death of ourselves as individuals, even though we are cells of society." Česky: „Je paradox, že neustálé smrti svých buněk nepovažujeme za svou smrt, zatímco smrt sebe jako jedince ano, přestože jsme buňkou společnosti.”

DeathIdentityBiologyParadoxMetabolismCellTheseusShip Of TheseusInterchangeable PartsSorites Paradox
Author:Sebastián Wortys
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“The heroes in paganism correspond exactly to the saints in popery, and holy dervises in MAHOMETANISM. The place of, HERCULES, THESEUS, HECTOR, ROMULUS, is now supplied by DOMINIC, FRANCIS, ANTHONY, and BENEDICT. Instead of the destruction of monsters, the subduing of tyrants, the defence of our native country; whippings and fastings, cowardice and humility, abject submission and slavish obedience, are become the means of obtaining celestial honours among mankind.”

MeanCountryMankindHumilityHeroHolyDestructionSaintMonstersObedienceNativeHonourTyrantsCowardiceSubmissionDefencePaganismCelestialFastingObtainingHectorTheseusNative CountryRomulus
Book:Delphi Complete Works of David Hume (Illustrated)
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“All the Greek mythic heroes had gone east, but they were myths. Achilles was a myth. Perseus, Theseus, Hercules... they probably existed in some form. But they all went east. That's where a Greek went to make his bones so to speak. And Alexander the Great was the first man who actually went east not to plunder, not to loot and come back to Greece - which is where the Macedonians wanted to go back with the money. He stayed. And he became half-Eastern.”

MenFirstsWantedFormSpeakHalfGoneHeroBonesMythEastGreekEasternGreeceAchillesPlunderGreek MythTheseusPerseus
Author:Oliver Stone
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“An unchangeable colour rules over the melancholic: his dwelling is a space the colour of mourning. Nothing happens in it. No one intrudes. It is a bare stage where the inert I is assisted by the I suffering from that inertia. The latter wishes to free the former, but all efforts fail, as Theseus would have failed had he been not only himself but also the Minotaur; to kill him then, he would have had to kill himself”

HappensSufferingWishSpaceEffortFailingStageFormerMourningColourLatterDwellingInertiaUnchangeableMinotaurTheseus
Author:Alejandra Pizarnik
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“I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene. Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrasemongers, however artful." He further added: "No man can read the gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life...Theseus and other heroes of his type lack the authentic vitality of Jesus.”

MenFeelingsJesusFiguresTypePersonalityHeroFilledJewMythPensVitalityLuminousColossalTheseusNazarene
Author:Albert Einstein
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