Rough Notes:

THE KNOWLEDGE OF SELF

KNOWLEDGE of self is the key to the knowledge of God, according to the saying: "He who knows himself knows God,"[1] and, as it is Written in the Koran, "We will show them Our signs in the world and in themselves, that the truth may be manifest to them." Now nothing is nearer to thee than thyself, and if thou knowest not thyself how canst thou know anything else? If thou sayest "I know myself," meaning thy outward shape, body, face, limbs, and so forth, such knowledge can never be a key to the knowledge of God. Nor, if thy knowledge as to that which is within only extends so far, that when thou art hungry thou eatest, and when thou art angry thou attackest some one, wilt thou progress any further in this path, for the beasts are thy partners in this? But real self-knowledge consists in knowing the following things: What art thou in thyself,

[1. Traditional saying of Muhammad.]

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and from whence hast thou come? Whither art thou going, and for what purpose hast thou come to tarry here awhile, and in what does thy real happiness and misery consist? Some of thy attributes are those of animals, some of devils, and some of angels, and thou hast to find out which of these attributes are accidental and which essential. Till thou knowest this, thou canst not find out where thy real happiness lies. The occupation of animals is eating, sleeping, and fighting; therefore, if thou art an animal, busy thyself in these things. Devils are busy in stirring up mischief, and in guile and deceit; if thou belongest to them, do their work. Angels contemplate the beauty of God, and are entirely free from animal qualities; if thou art of angelic nature, then strive towards thine origin, that thou mayest know and contemplate the Most High, and be delivered from the thraldom of lust and anger. Thou shouldest also discover why thou hast been created with these two animal instincts: whether that they should subdue and lead thee captive, or whether that thou shouldest subdue them, and, in thy upward progress, make of one thy steed and of the other thy weapon.

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The first step to self-knowledge is to know that thou art composed of an outward shape, called the body, and an inward entity called the heart, or soul. By "heart" I do not mean the piece of flesh situated in the left of our bodies, but that which uses all the other faculties as its instruments and servants. In truth it does not belong to the visible world, but to the invisible, and has come into this world as a traveller visits a foreign country for the sake of merchandise, and will presently return to its native land. It is the knowledge of this entity and its attributes which is the key to the knowledge of God.

Some idea of the reality of the heart, or spirit, may be obtained by a man closing his eves and forgetting everything around except his individuality. He will thus also obtain a glimpse of the unending nature of that individuality. Too close inquiry, however, into the essence of spirit is forbidden by the Law. In the Koran it is written: "They will question thee concerning the spirit. Say: 'The Spirit comes by the command of my Lord.'" Thus much is known of it that it is an indivisible essence belonging to the world of decrees, and

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that it is not from everlasting, but created. An exact philosophical knowledge of the spirit is not a necessary preliminary to walking in the path of religion, but comes rather as the result of self-discipline and perseverance in that path, as it is said in the Koran: "Those who strive in Our way, verily We will guide them to the right paths."

For the carrying on of this spiritual warfare by which the knowledge of oneself and of God is to be obtained, the body may be figured as a kingdom, the soul as its king, and the different senses and faculties as constituting an army. Reason may be called the vizier, or prime minister, passion the revenue-collector, and anger the police-officer. Under the guise of collecting revenue, passion is continually prone to plunder on its own account, while resentment is always inclined to harshness and extreme severity. Both of these, the revenue-collector and the police-officer, have to be kept in due subordination to the king, but not killed or expelled, as they have their own proper functions to fulfil. But if passion and resentment master reason, the ruin of the soul infallibly ensues. A

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soul which allows its lower faculties to dominate the higher is as one who should hand over an angel to the power of a dog or a Mussalman to the tyranny of an unbeliever. The cultivation of demonic, animal, or angelic qualities results in the production of corresponding characters, which in the Day of Judgment will be manifested in visible shapes, the sensual appearing as swine, the ferocious as dogs and wolves, and the pure as angels. The aim of moral discipline is to purify the heart from the rust of passion and resentment, till, like a clear mirror, it reflects the light of God.

Some one may here object, "But if man has been created with animal and demonic qualities as well as angelic, how are we to know that the latter constitute his real essence, while the former are merely accidental and transitory?" To this I answer that the essence of each creature is to be sought in that which is highest in it and peculiar to it. Thus the horse and the ass are both burden-bearing animals, but the superiority of the horse to the ass consists in its being adapted for use in battle. If it fails in this, it becomes degraded to the rank

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of burden-bearing animals. Similarly with man: the highest faculty in him is reason, which fits him for the contemplation of God. If this. predominates in him, when he dies, he leaves behind him all tendencies to passion and resentment, and becomes capable of association with angels. As regards his mere animal qualities, man is inferior to many animals, but reason makes him superior to them, as it is written in the Koran: "To man We have subjected all things in the earth." But if his lower tendencies have triumphed, after death he will ever be looking towards the earth and longing for earthly delights.

Now the rational soul in man abounds in, marvels, both of knowledge and power. By means of it he masters arts and sciences, can pass in a flash from earth to heaven and back again, can map out the skies and measure the distances between the stars. By it also he can draw the fish from the sea and the birds from the air, and can subdue to his service animals, like the elephant, the camel, and the horse. His five senses are like five doors opening on the external world; but, more wonderful than this,

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his heart has a window which opens on the unseen world of spirits. In the state of sleep, when the avenues of the senses are closed, this window is opened and man receives impressions from the unseen world and sometimes foreshadowings of the future. His heart is then like a mirror which reflects what is pictured in the Tablet of Fate. But, even in sleep, thoughts of worldly things dull this mirror, so, that the impressions it receives are not clear. After death, however, such thoughts vanish and things are seen in their naked reality, and the saying in the Koran is fulfilled: "We have stripped the veil from off thee and thy sight today is keen."

This opening of a window in the heart towards the unseen also takes place in conditions. approaching those of prophetic inspiration, when intuitions spring up in the mind unconveyed through any sense-channel. The more a man purifies himself from fleshly lusts and concentrates his mind on God, the more conscious will he be of such intuitions. Those who are not conscious of them have no right to deny their reality.

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Nor are such intuitions confined only to those of prophetic rank. Just as iron, by sufficient polishing, can be made into a mirror, so any mind by due discipline can be rendered receptive of such impressions. It was at this truth the Prophet hinted when he said, "Every child is born with a predisposition towards Islam; then his parents make a Jew, or a, Christian, or a star-worshipper of him." Every human being has in the depths of his consciousness heard the question "Am I not your Lord?" and answered "Yes" to it. But some hearts are like mirrors so befouled with rust and dirt that they give no clear reflections, while those of the prophets and saints, though they are men "of like passions with us," are extremely sensitive to all divine impressions.

Nor is it only by reason of knowledge acquired and intuitive that the soul of man holds the first rank among created things, but also by reason of power. Just as angels preside over the elements, so does the soul rule the members of the body. Those souls which attain a special degree of power not only rule their own body but those of others also. If

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they wish a sick man to recover he recovers, or a person in health to fall ill he becomes ill, or if they will the presence of a person he comes to them. According as the effects produced by these powerful souls are good or bad they are termed miracles or sorceries. These souls differ from common folk in three ways: (1) what others only see in dreams they see in their waking moments. (2) While others' wills only affect their own bodies, these, by will-power, can move bodies extraneous to themselves. (3) The knowledge which others acquire by laborious learning comes to them by intuition.

These three, of course, are not the only marks which differentiate them from common people, but the only ones that come within our cognisance. Just as no one knows the real nature of God but God Himself, so no one knows the real nature of a prophet but a prophet. Nor is this to be wondered at, as in everyday matters we see that it is impossible to explain the charm of poetry to one whose ear is insusceptible of cadence and rhythm, or the glories of colour to one who is stone-blind. Besides mere incapacity, there are other

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hindrances to the attainment of spiritual truth. One of these is externally acquired knowledge. To use a figure, the heart may be represented as a well, and the five senses as five streams which are continually conveying water to it. In order to find out the real contents of the heart these streams must be stopped for a time, at any rate, and the refuse they have brought with them must be cleared out of the well. In other words, if we are to arrive at pure spiritual truth, we must put away, for the time, knowledge which has been acquired by, external processes and which too often hardens into dogmatic prejudice.

A mistake of an opposite kind is made by shallow people who, echoing some phrases which they have caught from Sufi teachers, go about decrying all knowledge. This is as if a person who was not an adept in alchemy were to go about saying, "Alchemy is better than in gold," and were to refuse gold when it was offered to him. Alchemy is better than gold, but real alchemists are very rare, and so are real Sufis. He who has a mere smattering of Sufism is not superior to a learned main, any more

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than he who has tried a few experiments in alchemy has ground for despising a rich man.

Any one who will look into the matter will see that happiness is necessarily linked with the knowledge of God. Each faculty of ours delights in that for which it was created: lust delights in accomplishing desire, anger in taking vengeance, the eye in seeing beautiful objects, and the ear in hearing harmonious sounds. The highest function of the soul of man is the perception of truth; in this accordingly it finds its special delight. Even in trifling matters, such, as learning chess, this holds good, and the higher the subject-matter of the knowledge obtained the greater the delight. A man would be pleased at being admitted into the confidence of a prime minister, but how much more if the king makes an intimate of him and discloses state secrets to him!

An astronomer who, by his knowledge, can map the stars and describe their courses, derives more pleasure from his knowledge than the chess-player from his. Seeing, then, that nothing is higher than God, how great must be the

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delight which springs from the true knowledge of Him!

A person in whom the desire for this knowledge has disappeared is like one who has lost his appetite for healthy food, or who prefers feeding on clay to eating bread. All bodily appetites perish at death with the organs they use, but the soul dies not, and retains whatever knowledge of God it possesses; nay, increases it.

An important part of our knowledge of God arises from the study and contemplation of our own bodies, which reveal to us the power, wisdom, and love of the Creator. His power, in that from a mere drop He has built up the wonderful frame of man; His wisdom is revealed in its intricacies and the mutual adaptability of its parts; and His love is shown by His not only supplying such organs as are absolutely necessary for existence, as the liver, the heart, and the brain, but those which are not absolutely necessary, as the hand, the foot, the tongue, and the eye. To these He has added, as ornaments, the blackness of the hair, the redness of lips, and the curve of the eyebrows.

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Man has been truly termed a "microcosm," or little world in himself, and the structure of his body should be studied not only by those who wish to become doctors, but by those who wish to attain to a more intimate knowledge of God, just as close study of the niceties and shades of language in a great poem reveals to us more and more of the genius of its author.

But, when all is said, the knowledge of the soul plays a more important part in leading to the knowledge of God than the knowledge of our body and its functions. The body may be compared to a steed and the soul to its rider; the body was created for the soul, the soul for the body. If a man knows not his own soul, which is the nearest thing to him, what is the use of his claiming to know others? It is as if a beggar who has not the wherewithal for a meal should claim to be able to, feed a town.

In this chapter we have attempted, in some degree, to expound, the greatness of man's soul. He who neglects it and suffers its capacities to rust or to degenerate must necessarily be the loser in this world and the next. The true greatness; of man lies in his capacity for eternal

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progress, otherwise in this temporal sphere he is the weakest of all things, being subject to hunger, thirst, heat, cold, and sorrow. Those things he takes most delight in are often the most injurious to him, and those things which benefit him are not to be obtained without toil and trouble. As to his intellect, a slight disarrangement of matter in his brain is sufficient to destroy or madden him; as to his power, the sting of a wasp is sufficient to rob him of ease and sleep; as to his temper, he is upset by the loss of a sixpence; as to his beauty, he is little more than nauseous matter covered with a fair skin. Without frequent washing he becomes utterly repulsive and disgraceful.

In truth, man in this world is extremely weak and contemptible; it is only in the next that he will be of value, if by means of the "alchemy of happiness" he rises from the rank of beasts to that of angels. Otherwise his condition will be worse than the brutes, which perish and turn to dust. It is necessary for him, at the same time that he is conscious of his superiority as the climax of created things, to learn to know also his helplessness, as that too is one of the keys to the knowledge of God.

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Know thyself

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

For other uses, see Know thyself (disambiguation).

"Gnothi seauton" redirects here. For other uses, see Gnothi seauton (disambiguation).

 

A memento mori mosaic from excavations in the convent of San Gregorio in Rome, featuring the Greek motto.

The Ancient Greek aphorism "know thyself" or "gnothi seauton" (Greek: γνῶθι σεαυτόν, transliterated: gnōthi seauton; also ... σαυτόν … sauton with the ε contracted), is one of the Delphic maxims and was inscribed in the pronaos (forecourt) of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi according to the Greek writer Pausanias (10.24.1).^[1]

In Latin the aphorism is generally given as nosce te ipsum^[2] or temet nosce.^[3]

The maxim, or aphorism, "know thyself" has had a variety of meanings attributed to it in literature.

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1Attribution
• 2Usage
  • 2.1By Plato
  • 2.2By Aeschylus
  • 2.3By contemporaries of Socrates
  • 2.4Later usage
• 3See also
• 4References
• 5External links

Attribution[edit]

The aphorism may have come from Luxor in Ancient Egypt. Pre-Socratics like Thales of Miletus and Pythagoras of Samos are thought by some to have had ancient Egyptian influences, according to Greek folklore and later writers including Aristotle. In any case the saying assumes a distinctive meaning and importance in Greek religion and thought. The Greeks attributed much of their wisdom to Egyptian sources. There are two parts of the ancient Luxor Temple, the External Temple, where the beginners were allowed to enter and the Internal Temple where a person was only allowed to enter after proven worthy and ready to acquire more knowledge and insights. One of the proverbs of the External Temple is "The body is the house of God." That is why it is said: "Man, know thyself".^[4] In the Internal Temple, one of the many proverbs is "Man, know thyself, and you are going to know the gods".^[5] The ancient Greek aphorism which came from the ancient Egyptian proverb has been attributed to at least the following ancient Greek sages:

• Bias of Priene^[6]
• Chilon of Sparta^[7]
• Cleobulus of Lindus^[8]
• Heraclitus^[9]
• Myson of Chenae^[10]
• Periander^[11]
• Pittacus of Mytilene^[12]
• Pythagoras^{[citation needed]}
• Socrates^[13]
• Solon of Athens^[14]
• Thales of Miletus^[15]

Diogenes Laërtius attributes it to Thales (Lives I.40), but also notes that Antisthenes in his Successions of Philosophers attributes it to Phemonoe, a mythical Greek poet, though admitting that it was appropriated by Chilon. In a discussion of moderation and self-awareness, the Roman poet Juvenal quotes the phrase in Greek and states that the precept descended e caelo (from heaven) (Satires 11.27). The 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia the Suda recognized Chilon^[16] and Thales^[17] as the sources of the maxim "Know Thyself."

The authenticity of all such attributions has been doubted; according to one pair of modern scholars, "The actual authorship of the three maxims set up on the Delphian temple may be left uncertain. Most likely they were popular proverbs, which tended later to be attributed to particular sages."^[18][19]

Usage[edit]

By Plato[edit]

Plato employs the maxim 'Know Thyself' extensively by having the character of Socrates use it to motivate his dialogues. Plato makes it clear that Socrates is referring to a long-established wisdom. Benjamin Jowett's index to his translation of the Dialogues of Plato lists six dialogues which discuss or explore the saying of Delphi: 'know thyself.' These dialogues (and the Stephanus numbers indexing the pages where these discussions begin) are Charmides (164D), Protagoras (343B), Phaedrus (229E), Philebus (48C), Laws (II.923A), Alcibiades I (124A, 129A, 132C).^[20]

In Plato's Charmides, Critias refers to the maxim consistently with the view expressed in the Suda, with Critias saying, "for they imagined that 'Know Thyself!' was a piece of advice which the god gave and not his salutation of the worshippers at their first coming in."^[21] In modern words Critias gives his opinion that 'Know Thyself!' was an admonition to those entering the sacred temple to remember or know their place and Critias says, " 'know thyself!' and 'be temperate!' are the same. Notice that when the words of Critias are written, 'thyself' and 'temperate' are punctuated with exclamation marks in the English translations, as if they were commands.^[22] In the balance of the Charmides, Plato has Socrates lead a longer inquiry as to how we may gain knowledge of ourselves.

In Plato's Phaedrus, Socrates uses the maxim 'know thyself' as his explanation to Phaedrus to explain why he has no time for the attempts to rationally explain mythology or other far flung topics. Socrates says, "But I have no leisure for them at all; and the reason, my friend, is this: I am not yet able, as the Delphic inscription has it, to know myself; so it seems to me ridiculous, when I do not yet know that, to investigate irrelevant things."^[23]

In Plato's Protagoras, Socrates lauds the authors of pithy and concise sayings delivered precisely at the right moment and says that Lacedaemon, or Sparta, educates its people to that end. Socrates lists the Seven Sages as Thales, Pittacus, Bias, Solon, Cleobulus, Myson, and Chilon, who he says are gifted in that Lacedaemonian art of concise words "twisted together, like a bowstring, where a slight effort gives great force."^[24] Socrates says examples of them are, "the far-famed inscriptions, which are in all men's mouths,--'Know thyself,' and 'Nothing too much'.".^[25] Having lauded the maxims, Socrates then spends a great deal of time getting to the bottom of what one of them means, the saying of Pittacus, 'Hard is it to be good.' The irony here is that although the sayings of Delphi bear 'great force,' it is not clear how to live life in accordance with their meanings. Although, the concise and broad nature of the sayings suggests the active partaking in the usage and personal discovery of each maxim; as if the intended nature of the saying lay not in the words but the self-reflection and self-referencing of the person thereof.

In Plato's Philebus dialogue, Socrates refers back to the same usage of 'know thyself' from Phaedrus to build an example of the ridiculous for Protarchus. Socrates says, as he did in Phaedrus, that people make themselves appear ridiculous when they are trying to know obscure things before they know themselves.^[26] Plato also alluded to the fact that understanding 'thyself,' would have a greater yielded factor of understanding the nature of a human being. Syllogistically, understanding oneself would enable thyself to have an understanding of others as a result.

By Aeschylus[edit]

Aeschylus uses "know thyself" in its original Greek mythology form in Prometheus Bound. In this play, Prometheus rails against being bound to a cliffside by Zeus, and is cautioned by Ocean that Prometheus should "know thyself".^[27] In this context, Ocean telling Prometheus that he should know better than to speak ill of the one who decides his fate, and should know his place.

By contemporaries of Socrates[edit]

Like Plato, Xenophon reports Socrates's use of the saying 'Know Thyself' as an organizing theme for a long dialogue with Euthydemus in Xenophon's Memorabilia.^[28]

Aristophanes is the third contemporary of Socrates whose descriptions of Socrates and his teaching remain extant. In The Clouds, Aristophanes makes a mockery of philosophers in general and Socrates in particular. The words γνώσει δὲ σαυτὸν (and know yourself) are used in The Clouds by a father deriding his son for his lack of learning, "And you will know yourself, how ignorant and stupid you are."^[29]

Later usage[edit]

 

Detail from the 6th edition of Linnaeus' Systema Naturae (1748). "HOMO. Nosce te ipsum."

The Suda, a 10th-century encyclopedia of Greek knowledge, says: "the proverb is applied to those whose boasts exceed what they are",^[30] and that "know thyself" is a warning to pay no attention to the opinion of the multitude.^[31]

From 1539 onwards the phrase nosce te ipsum and its Latin variants were often used in the anonymous texts written for anatomical fugitive sheets printed in Venice as well as for later anatomical atlases printed throughout Europe. The 1530s fugitive sheets are the first instances in which the phrase was applied to knowledge of the human body attained through dissection.^[32]

In 1651 Thomas Hobbes used the term nosce teipsum which he translated as 'read thyself' in his famous work, The Leviathan. He was responding to a popular philosophy at the time that you can learn more by studying others than you can from reading books. He asserts that one learns more by studying oneself: particularly the feelings that influence our thoughts and motivate our actions. As Hobbes states, "but to teach us that for the similitude of the thoughts and passions of one man, to the thoughts and passions of another, whosoever looketh into himself and considereth what he doth when he does think, opine, reason, hope, fear, etc., and upon what grounds; he shall thereby read and know what are the thoughts and passions of all other men upon the like occasions."^[33]

In 1734 Alexander Pope wrote a poem entitled "An Essay on Man, Epistle II", which begins "Know then thyself, presume not God to scan, The proper study of mankind is Man."^[34]

In 1735 Carl Linnaeus published the first edition of Systema Naturae in which he described humans (Homo) with the simple phrase "Nosce te ipsum".^[35]

In 1750 Benjamin Franklin, in his Poor Richard's Almanack, observed the great difficulty of knowing one's self, with: "There are three Things extremely hard, Steel, a Diamond, and to know one's self." ^[36]

In 1754 Jean-Jacques Rousseau lauded the "inscription of the Temple at Delphi" in his Discourse on the Origin of Inequality.

In 1831, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a poem entitled "Γνώθι Σεαυτόν", or Gnothi Seauton ('Know Thyself'), on the theme of 'God in thee.' The poem was an anthem to Emerson's belief that to 'know thyself' meant knowing the God which Emerson felt existed within each person.^[37]

In 1832 Samuel T. Coleridge wrote a poem entitled "Self Knowledge" in which the text centers on the Delphic maxim 'Know Thyself' beginning, 'Gnôthi seauton!--and is this the prime And heaven-sprung adage of the olden time!--' and ending with 'Ignore thyself, and strive to know thy God!' Coleridge's text references JUVENAL, xi. 27.^[38]

In 1902 Hugo von Hofmannsthal has his 16th-century alter ego in his letter to Francis Bacon mention a book he intended to call Nosce te ipsum.

In 1904 Sarah Ida Shaw and Elanor Dorcas Pond founded the Delta Delta Delta fraternity. Part of their motto is Self-Knowledge, Self-Reverence, and Self-Discipline.

The Wachowskis used one of the Latin versions (temet nosce) of this aphorism as inscription over the Oracle's door in their movies The Matrix (1999) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003).^[39] The transgender character Nomi in the Netflix show Sense8, directed by The Wachowskis, has a tattoo on her arm with the Greek version of this phrase.

"Know Thyself" is the motto of Hamilton College, of Lyceum International School (Nugegoda, Sri Lanka) and of Ipek University (Ankara, Turkey).^[40]

Nosce teipsum is also the motto for the Scottish clan Thompson. It is featured on the family crest or coat of arms.^[41]

See also[edit]

• Delphic maxims
• I know that I know nothing
• Introspection
• Jnana
• Philosophy of self
• Self-knowledge (psychology)
• The Art of War

References[edit]

1. Jump up^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, Paus. 10.24.
2. Jump up^ "Nosce te ipsum - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary". Merriam-webster.com. 2010-08-13. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
3. Jump up^ "AllExperts.com: temet nosce". allexperts.com. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
4. Jump up^ De Lubicz, Isha Schwaller; Lamy, Lucie (1954). Her-Bak: The Living Face of Ancient Egypt. Hodder and Staughton.
5. Jump up^ De Lubicz, Isha Schwaller; Lamy, Lucie (1978). Her-Bak: Egyptian Initiate. Inner Traditions International.
6. Jump up^ Bias of Priene, in Plato's Protagoras (343a-343b) Socrates lists Bias as one of the seven sources of the Delphic maxims including "Know Thyself." <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0178:text%3DProt.:section%3D343a>
7. Jump up^ Chilon of Sparta, a 10th-century Byzantine scholia in the Sudaattributed the aphorism to Chilon. "Know Thyself." Suda On Line. Tr. Catherine Roth. 13 Aug 2002. 15 Feb 2011 <http://www.stoa.org/sol-entries/gamma/333>.
8. Jump up^ Cleobulus of Lindus, in Plato's Protagoras (343a-343b) Socrates lists Cleobulus as one of the seven sages who were sources of the Delphic maxims including "Know Thyself." <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0178:text%3DProt.:section%3D343a>.
9. Jump up^ Doctoral thesis, "Know Thyself in Greek and Latin Literature," Eliza G. Wilkens, U. Chi, 1917, p. 12 (online).
10. Jump up^ Myson of Chenae, in Plato's Protagoras (343a-343b) Socrates lists Myson as one of the seven sages who were sources of the Delphic maxims including "Know Thyself." <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0178:text%3DProt.:section%3D343a>.
11. Jump up^ Pausanias 10.24.1 mentions a controversy over whether Periander should be listed as the seventh sage instead of Myson. But Socrates who is cited by Pausanias as his source supports Myson. Paus. 10.24
12. Jump up^ Pittacus of Mitylene, in Plato's Protagoras (343a-343b) Socrates lists Pittacus as one of the seven sages who were sources of the Delphic maxims including "Know Thyself." <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0178:text%3DProt.:section%3D343a>.
13. Jump up^ Socrates, Socrates refers to it in Plato's Philebus 48c, and Phaedrus 229e as a saying of Delphi. The Tufts Perseus web site shows Philebus text as: <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0174:text=Phileb.:section=48c&highlight=thyself,know>.
14. Jump up^ Solon of Athens, in Plato's Protagoras (343a-343b) Socrates lists Solon as one of the seven sages who were sources of the Delphic maxims including "Know Thyself." <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0178:text%3DProt.:section%3D343a>.
15. Jump up^ Thales of Miletus, a 10th-century Byzantine scholia in the Sudaattributed the aphorism to Thales. "Thales." Suda On Line. Tr. Ross Scaife, 28 Nov 2001. 15 Feb 2011. <http://www.stoa.org/sol-entries/theta/17>.
16. Jump up^ http://www.stoa.org/sol-entries/gamma/333
17. Jump up^ http://www.stoa.org/sol-entries/theta/17
18. Jump up^ H. Parke and D. Wormell, The Delphic Oracle, (Basil Blackwell, 1956), vol. 1, p. 389.
19. Jump up^ Dempsey, T., Delphic Oracle: Its Early History, Influence & Fall, Oxford : B.H. Blackwell, 1918. With a prefatory note by R.S. Conway. Cf. pp.141-142 (Alternative source for book at Internet Archive in various formats)
20. Jump up^ Plato, The Dialogues of Plato translated into English with Analyses and Introductions by Benjamin Jowett, M.A. in Five Volumes. 3rd edition revised and corrected (Oxford University Press, 1892), (See Index: Knowledge; 'know thyself' at Delphi).
21. Jump up^ Critias states the meaning of 'know thyself' in Plato's Charmides (165a),<http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0176:text%3DCharm.:section%3D165a>
22. Jump up^ Critias says 'know thyself!' and 'be temperate!' are the same in Plato's Charmides (164e), <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0176:text%3DCharm.:section%3D164e>
23. Jump up^ Socrates uses the saying 'know thyself' to explain what is important for him to know. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0174:text%3DPhaedrus:section%3D229e
24. Jump up^ Socrates lists the authors of Delphi's sayings. <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plat.+Prot.+343a&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0178>
25. Jump up^ Socrates seeks to understand 'Know thyself' as pithy, concise wisdom. <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0178:text%3DProt.:section%3D343b>
26. Jump up^ Socrates use of 'Know thyself' in Philebus (48c) http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plat.+Phileb.+48c&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0174
27. Jump up^ Aeschylus, Prometheys Bound, v. 309: γίγνωσκε σαυτὸν.
28. Jump up^ Xenophon describes Socrates use of 'Know Thyself' in Memorabilia 4.2.24 <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0208:book%3D4:chapter%3D2:section%3D24>
29. Jump up^ Aristophanes use of 'Know Thyself' in The Clouds Card 814. <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0241:card%3D814>.
30. Jump up^ 'Know Thyself' as an admonition, in "Know Thyself". Suda On Line. Tr. Catherine Roth. 13 Aug 2002. 15 Feb 2011 <http://www.stoa.org/sol-entries/gamma/333>.
31. Jump up^ 'Know the value of Thyself' rightly, in "Know Thyself". Suda On Line. Tr. Catherine Roth. 13 Aug 2002. 15 Feb 2011 <http://www.stoa.org/sol-entries/gamma/334>.
32. Jump up^ William Schupbach, The Paradox of Rembrandt's "Anatomy of Dr. Tulp (Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine: London, 1982), pp. 67-68
33. Jump up^ Hobbes, Thomas. "The Leviathan". Civil peace and social unity through perfect government. Oregon State University: Phl 302, Great Voyages: the History of Western Philosophy from 1492-1776, Winter 1997. Archived from the original on 27 November 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
34. Jump up^ Alexander Pope begins his Essay on Man Epistle II "Know then thyself."<http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/03/hbc-90002748>.
35. Jump up^ https://books.google.com/books?id=_XUOAAAAQAAJ&lpg=PA1&dq=Linnaeus%201735%20%22nosce%20te%20ipsum%22&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q=Linnaeus%201735%20%22nosce%20te%20ipsum%22&f=false.
36. Jump up^ Ben Franklin observes that it is extremely hard to know oneself. <https://books.google.com/books?id=MYkTAQAAMAAJ&dq=Autobiography%2C%20Sayings%20of%20Poor%20Richard%2C%20Letters&pg=PA195#v=onepage&q&f=false>.
37. Jump up^ Ralph Waldo Emerson Gnothe Seauton, Poem 1831. <http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/emerson/poems/gnothi.html>.
38. Jump up^ Samuel T. Coleridge wrote the poem 'Self Knowledge' discussing 'Gnôthi seauton' or know thyself. <http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/37203/>.
39. Jump up^ McGrath, Patrick (10 January 2011). ""Know Thyself". The most important art lesson of all". patrickmcgrath. Retrieved 3 October2013.
40. Jump up^ ipek.edu.tr.
41. Jump up^ "Thompson Surname, Family Crest & Coats of Arms". House of Names. Retrieved 19 April 2017.