γνῶθι σεαυτόν

γνῶθι σεαυτόν (gnōthi seauton)


Nosce te ipsum


Connais-toi toi-même


Know thyself


Conócete a ti mismo


Conosci te stesso


Erkenne dich selbst


汝自身を知れ




I live by a handful of axioms, this is one of them. Back in the days, this aphorism was sometimes used to warn people who boasted unnecessarily and not to pay heed to the opinion of other people. It was written on the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, Greece, according to Pausanias, the great traveller. I take it now as a maieutic process (the giving birth concept developed by Socrates, without the irony) that enables me to walk further down the road. Socrates also 'said' (all of these via Plato): ἓν οἶδα ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα. I don't know the translation in Roman alphabet, but it reads: "I know that I know nothing." The road is long and winding, and crossroads abound. Better be humble considering the task to be done. And learn, always. From your achievements as much as from your mistakes. From others, great and small.


I don't quite know why I am posting this, what triggered this sudden outburst. I am not giving any lesson, far from me the idea of giving lessons. I'd rather prefer saying that I'm giving my point of view.