Caesar, Bellum Civile 2.27.2
“We all willingly believe those things we are wishing for…”
quae volumus, ea credimus libenter
Xenophon, Memorabilia 3.3.9
“You probably know that in every matter people want to obey those most they believe to be best.”
᾿Εκεῖνο μὲν δήπου οἶσθα, ὅτι ἐν παντὶ πράγματι οἱ ἄνθρωποι τούτοις μάλιστα ἐθέλουσι πείθεσθαι οὓς ἂν ἡγῶνται βελτίστους εἶναι.
Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 2.1023-1039
“Nothing is so simple that at first sight
it is not rather difficult to believe…”
sed neque tam facilis res ulla est, quin ea primum
difficilis magis ad credendum constet
Sophokles, fr. 86
“Indeed, what is believed overpowers the truth”
τό τοι νομισθὲν τῆς ἀληθείας κρατεῖ.
Phaedrus, Prologue to Phaedrus’ Collection of Aesopic fables
“Don’t forget: we are playing with the make-believe.”
fictis iocari nos meminerit fabulis.
Philostratus, Life of Apollonius 3.45
“It would be profitable neither to believe in everything nor yet to disbelieve it.”
καὶ γὰρ κέρδος (ἂν) εἴη μήτε πιστεύειν, μήτε ἀπιστεῖν πᾶσιν.
Euenus of Paros, fr. 1
“Go ahead, you think these things, but I believe those”
“σοὶ μὲν ταῦτα δοκοῦντ’ ἔστω, ἐμοὶ δὲ τάδε.”
Pausanias, 1.3.3
“On the opposite wall are painted Theseus, Democracy and the People. Clearly, this painting shows Theseus as the founder of political equality for the Athenians. In other accounts the story has been popularized that Theseus handed the powers of the state over to the people and that the Athenians lived in a democracy from his time until Peisistratus rebelled and became a tyrant. The majority of people repeat many things which are not true, since they know nothing of history and they believe whatever they have heard since childhood in choruses and tragedy. This is how it is with Theseus who actually was king himself and whose descendants continued ruling for four generations until Menestheus died.”
ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ τοίχῳ τῷ πέραν Θησεύς ἐστι γεγραμμένος καὶ Δημοκρατία τε καὶ Δῆμος. δηλοῖ δὲ ἡ γραφὴ Θησέα εἶναι τὸν καταστήσαντα ᾿Αθηναίοις ἐξ ἴσου πολιτεύεσθαι· κεχώρηκε δὲ φήμη καὶ ἄλλως ἐς τοὺς πολλούς, ὡς Θησεὺς παραδοίη τὰ πράγματα τῷ δήμῳ καὶ ὡς ἐξ ἐκείνου δημοκρατούμενοι διαμείναιεν, πρὶν ἢ Πεισίστρατος ἐτυράννησεν ἐπαναστάς. λέγεται μὲν δὴ καὶ ἄλλα οὐκ ἀληθῆ παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς οἷα ἱστορίας ἀνηκόοις οὖσι καὶ ὁπόσα ἤκουον εὐθὺς ἐκ παίδων ἔν τε χοροῖς καὶ τραγῳδίαις πιστὰ ἡγουμένοις, λέγεται δὲ καὶ ἐς τὸν Θησέα, ὃς αὐτός τε ἐβασίλευσε καὶ ὕστερον Μενεσθέως τελευτήσαντος καὶ ἐς τετάρτην οἱ Θησεῖδαι γενεὰν διέμειναν ἄρχοντες.
Thucydides, 1.20.3
“For most people the examination of the truth is so careless that they accept whatever is prepared for them.”
οὕτως ἀταλαίπωρος τοῖς πολλοῖς ἡ ζήτησις τῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ ἑτοῖμα μᾶλλον τρέπονται.
Tertullian, Apology 1.4-5
“Those people are ignorant while they hate and they hated unjustly because they were ignorant”
et ignorare illos, dum oderunt, et iniuste odisse, dum ignorant
