I love the old way best, the simple way of poison, where we too are strong as men.
EuripidesRead
No one is truly free, they are a slave to wealth, fortune, the law, or other people restraining them from acting according to their will.
Interpretation
True freedom is an illusion, as individuals are often constrained by various societal and personal factors.
The quote by Euripides suggests that true freedom is unattainable because individuals are bound by their circumstances, such as financial obligations, societal expectations, and legal restrictions. It highlights the paradox of freedom, where the pursuit of wealth, status, or compliance with social norms can actually hinder one's ability to act freely and according to one's own desires.
In practice
In a debate about the impact of societal norms on individual freedom, one might quote Euripides to illustrate the complexities of autonomy.
I love the old way best, the simple way of poison, where we too are strong as men.
Mankind . . . possesses two supreme blessings. First of these is the goddess Demeter, or Earth whichever name you choose to call her by. It was she who gave to man his nourishment of grain. But after her there came the son of Semele, who matched her present by inventing liquid wine as his gift to man. For filled with that good gift, suffering mankind forgets its grief; from it comes sleep; with it oblivion of the troubles of the day. There is no other medicine for misery.
Money is far more persuasive than logical arguments.
Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad.
Who then will dare to say I'm weak or timid? No, they'll say I'm loyal as a friend, ruthless as a foe, so much like a hero destined for glory.
Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.
Ethical axioms are found and tested not very differently from the axioms of science. Truth is what stands the test of experience.
God has made the cat to give man the pleasure of caressing the tiger.
How accurately can the law fix the crime? There has to be a mechanism for very fast action. The law is like this: catch them and punish them.
My turning point was my pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. It was then that I, who had dedicated most of my life to penetrate the 'secrets' of the universe, realized that there are no secrets. Life is and will always be a mystery.
The whole world is a theatre for the display of the divine goodness, wisdom, justice, and power, but the Church is the orchestra, as it wereβthe most conspicuous part of it; and the nearer the approaches are that God makes to us, the more intimate and condescending the communication of his benefits, the more attentively are we called to consider them.
The grandeur of Jerusalem is also... its problem.
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