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Know Yourself! (thelemmy.club)

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[-] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 week ago

I think "Know Thyself" comes from an inscription over the entrance to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi

[-] merc@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago

Except it's just "Know Yourself", because the inscription was in ancient Greek, so when translating it to English, we'd use modern English, not centuries-old English which uses personal pronouns that haven't been used in English in centuries.

[-] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 week ago

That doesn't change anything. Your entire point is that what we translate it to doesn't change the meaning. So how does that matter?

My point isn't that "Know Thyself" is the correct way. I was using that more or less interchangeably, since they're synonymous. My point was that it comes from the Greek, not from Sun Tzu.

And unless you can rationalize why the original inscription being in Greek somehow changes that, I don't see your point.

[-] merc@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago

It does change the meaning. The only places someone is likely to encounter "thyself" today are in works from Shakespeare or in certain translations of the bible. As a result, people give certain weight to the term "Thyself" that they wouldn't to the modern meaning of the word "Yourself". "Thyself" is a word used by gods, "yourself" is a word used by normal people.

[-] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Again, unless you somehow take that as evidence that it was in fact Sun Tzu who said that, and not the inscription on the Temple of Apollo, then that makes no difference to what I said.

"Thyself" is a word used by gods, "yourself" is a word used by normal people.

Well seeing as it was inscribed on the literal temple of an ancient deity, it seems "Thyself" would be the more accurate translation, according to your own logic.

[-] Zachariah@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

in the biblical sense, it means “go fuck yourself”

[-] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 week ago

I think it means something more along the lines of "examine your latent biases and underlying assumptions, know the difference between perception and reality" but "go fuck yourself" works too, I guess...

[-] fibojoly@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago

Yes but here I was referring to Sun Tzu's Art of War in which he explains that if you know yourself (your own forces) and you know your enemy, you will win all your battles. Sorry for the confusion.

But yeah, perhaps the people in this picture were referring to that one?

this post was submitted on 24 May 2026
468 points (99.4% liked)

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