Xenocrates

Xenocrates asked a young man who wished to study philosophy whether he had studied geometry. When he said no, Xenocrates asked whether he had studied astronomy; when he denied that too, whether he had read the poets. He denied this as well.¹¹¹³ Failing that, Xenocrates asked whether he knew his letters. He said that he did ⟨not even⟩ know those.¹¹¹⁴ “Fleece, then,” said Xenocrates, “is not washed by a fuller.”¹¹¹⁵

Aeschines the Socratic

This is Miltiades, the son of Stesagoras.¹¹¹⁶ As a boy he trained for the Olympic contests, and his capacity for performing the hard work surpassed his trainer’s capacity for prescribing it. There he defeated boys bigger and older than himself, and while competing for the crown he was withdrawn by his trainer against his will.¹¹¹⁷

Aeschines continued

Moreover, he had guardians who differed in age and character, and he was obedient to them all. An attendant of no great merit used to accompany him, and he never opposed him in anything.¹¹¹⁸ Such was his conduct as a boy. When he began to become a young man, he considered it a fine thing to keep silent; he has kept quieter than bronze statues. He thought it a fine thing to care for his body; he has taken such care of it that even now he is in better physical condition than anyone else his age.¹¹¹⁹

Euripides (attribution uncertain)

Whoever neglects the Muses while young¹¹²⁰ has wasted the time already past and is dead to the time ahead.¹¹²¹

⟨Unidentified comic poet.⟩

To have natural ability is best; next comes ⟨learning.⟩¹¹²²

Plato, from Laws, Book 7

Almost everyone is mistaken about something. — What is that? — The belief that our right and left sides, in the use of our hands for each task, differ by nature.¹¹²³ For the feet and ⟨the⟩ lower limbs show no difference in their capacity for exertion; but as for our hands, through the folly of nurses and mothers we have each become, as it were, lame.¹¹²⁴ For although nature leaves the limbs on either side almost evenly balanced, we ourselves, through habits and improper use, have made them different.¹¹²⁵

Crantor

Crantor used to say that no one could be initiated into the greater mysteries before the lesser, nor could one come to philosophy before working through the general course of studies.¹¹²⁶

Arcesilaus

Arcesilaus, seeing a certain young man listening to philosophical discussions before receiving an education, said that not even Demeter’s crops, though finest and most nourishing, suit children straight from birth;¹¹²⁷ their nurses’ milk does.¹¹²⁸

Demosthenes

Demosthenes the orator said that the root of education is bitter, but its fruits are sweet.¹¹²⁹

Aristotle

When someone asked Aristotle the Peripatetic what young men should practice most of all, he said, “Education.”¹¹³⁰

Theophrastus

For women, instruction in letters seems most necessary—and even that only as far as is useful for managing a household.¹¹³¹ But further refinement makes them more idle in other matters, talkative, and meddlesome.¹¹³²

Iamblichus, from On the Soul

For the learners’ listening that follows the teacher’s every intention is the most harmonious and the best of all.¹¹³³

Antisthenes

When someone asked Antisthenes, the Socratic philosopher, what sort of crown was finest, he said, “The one that comes from education.”¹¹³⁴