an educated man

Dude,
I could have sworn I sent this to you already, but I can’t find it in any of my “sent” emails, so..

Whom then, do I call edu­cat­ed, since I exclude the arts and sci­ences and specialties?

First, those who man­age well the cir­cum­stances which they encounter day by day, and who pos­sess a judg­ment which is accu­rate in meet­ing occa­sions as they arise and rarely miss­es the expe­di­ent course of action;

Next, those who are decent and hon­or­able in their inter­course with all with whom they asso­ciate, tol­er­at­ing eas­i­ly and good-natured­ly what is unpleas­ant or offen­sive in oth­ers and being them­selves as agree­able and rea­son­able to their asso­ciates as it is pos­si­ble to be;

Fur­ther­more, those who hold their plea­sures always under con­trol and are not undu­ly over­come by their mis­for­tunes, bear­ing up under them brave­ly and in a man­ner wor­thy of our com­mon nature;

Final­ly, and most impor­tant of all, those who are not spoiled by suc­cess­es and do not desert their true selves and become arro­gant, but hold their ground stead­fast­ly as intel­li­gent men, not rejoic­ing in the good things which have come to them through chance rather than in those which through their own nature and intel­li­gence are theirs from birth.  Those who have a char­ac­ter which is in accord, not with one of these things, but with all of them–these, I con­tend, are wise and com­plete men, pos­sessed of all the virtues.”

-Isocrates, from the Panathenaicus

In addi­tion to those I count a strong curios­i­ty for good­ness in all its forms and the will and action to per­fect an ath­let­ic and capa­ble body. ‑NFH

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