Passion's Absence
Cicero
On Duties

Cicero argues that conversation should be free from excessive emotions that override reason, such as anger or listlessness.

...litics, or the theory and practice of the arts. Pains must then be taken that, if the conversation begins to wander off to other subjects, it be recalled to these. Yet reference must be had to the persons present; for we are not all interested in the same things, at all times, and in a similar degree. We should always observe, also, the length of time to which the pleasure of conversation extends, and as there was reason for beginning, so let there be a limit at which there shall be an ending.
But as it is a most fitting rule for the entire life, that we shun passion, by which I mean emotions that transcend the control of reason, so conversation ought to be free from emotions of this kind, that thus no anger or inordinate desire may show itself, and that at the same time there be no appearance of listlessness, or indifference, or anything of the kind.
We must also take special care to preserve the bearing of respect and esteem for those with whom we converse. There is sometimes occasion for administering reproof, in which we must perhaps use a greater stress of voice and a keener severity of diction; indeed, this may need to be carried so far as to make us seem under the influence of anger. But we shall have recourse to this kind of oral castigation, as to the cautery and the knife, rarely and reluctantly, nor ever, unless it be necessary in...
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The Danger of Goodness
François de La Rochefoucauld
Maxims

This thesis warns that over-benefitting others can be more hazardous than harming them, as it may breed resentment or an unbearable sense of obligation.

It is not so dangerous to do wrong to most men, as to do them too much good.
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Frenzy's Transfiguration
Julius Evola
Revolt Against the Modern World

A reflection on Dionysian frenzy as a means of breaking material bonds, while ultimately positing a 'heroic reintegration' as a superior state that transcends both feminine and telluric principles.

...wing period of Aphrodistic degeneration in that civilization that is parallel to the Titanic upheaval itself; this is true especially if we consider the frequent associations between Aphrodistic goddesses and violent and brutally warlike divine figures. It is well known that Plato established a hierarchy of the forms of eros, rising from the sensual and the profane up to the peaks of the sacred and culminating in the eros through which "the mortal seeks to live forever and to become immortal."
In Dionysism, eros becomes "sacred frenzy," mystic orgiasm: it is the highest possibility inherent in this direction and it is aimed at undoing the bonds of matter and at producing a transfiguration through frenzy, excess, and ecstasis. But if the symbol of Dionysus, who fights against the Amazons himself, reveals the highest ideal of this spiritual world, nevertheless it remains something inferior compared to what the third possibility of the new era will be: the heroic reintegration that alone is really detached from both the feminine and the telluric principle.
In fact, Dionysus was also represented as a demon of the infernal regions ("Hades is the same as Dionysus" said Heraclitus ), and was often associated with the principle of the waters (Poseidon) or with the underground fire (Hephaestus). Often he is found together with feminine figures of mothers, virgins, or goddesses of nature turned into lovers: Demeter and Core, Ariadne and Aridela, Semelis and Libera. The masculinity of the Corybantes, who often dressed as women, like the priests in the Ph...
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Blunt Truth vs Rhetoric
Michel de Montaigne
Essays, Book One

The author argues that knowledge of grammar and rhetoric is unnecessary for effective speech. A simple and blunt truth surpasses fine decoration, as seen in Tacitus' example of Aper.

...ll not reluctantly follow the thing preconceived.”)--Horace, De Arte Poetica. v. 311] And as another as poetically says in his prose: “Quum res animum occupavere, verbs ambiunt,” [“When things are once in the mind, the words offer themselves readily.” (“When things have taken possession of the mind, the words trip.”)--Seneca, Controvers., iii. proem.] and this other. “Ipsae res verbs rapiunt.” [“The things themselves force the words to express them.” --Cicero, De Finib., iii. 5.]
He knows nothing of ablative, conjunctive, substantive, or grammar, no more than his lackey, or a fishwife of the Petit Pont; and yet these will give you a bellyful of talk, if you will hear them, and peradventure shall trip as little in their language as the best masters of art in France. He knows no rhetoric, nor how in a preface to bribe the benevolence of the courteous reader; neither does he care to know it. Indeed all this fine decoration of painting is easily effaced by the lustre of a simple and blunt truth; these fine flourishes serve only to amuse the vulgar, of themselves incapable of more solid and nutritive diet, as Aper very…
The ambassadors of Samos, prepared with a long and elegant oration, came to Cleomenes, king of Sparta, to incite him to a war against the tyrant Polycrates; who, after he had heard their harangue with great gravity and patience, gave them this answer: “As to the exordium, I remember it not, nor consequently the middle of your speech; and for what concerns your conclusion, I will not do what you desire:” a very pretty answer this, methinks, and a pack of learned orators most sweetly gravelled. A...
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The Unastonished Weakness
Blaise Pascal
Pensées

The author expresses astonishment at human weakness and the lack of self-awareness regarding it, suggesting that the existence of those who blindly believe in their own wisdom only strengthens the skeptical position.

...metimes escapes me; but this makes me remember my weakness, that I constantly forget. This is as instructive to me as my forgotten thought; for I strive only to know my nothingness. 373 Scepticism.--I shall here write my thoughts without order, and not perhaps in unintentional confusion; that is true order, which will always indicate my object by its very disorder. I should do too much honour to my subject, if I treated it with order, since I want to show that it is incapable of it. 374
What astonishes me most is to see that all the world is not astonished at its own weakness. Men act seriously, and each follows his own mode of life, not because it is in fact good to follow since it is the custom, but as if each man knew certainly where reason and justice are. They find themselves continually deceived, and by a comical humility think it is their own fault, and not that of the art which they claim always to possess. But it is well there are so many such people in the world, who are not sceptics for the glory of scepticism, in order to show that man is quite capable of the most extravagant opinions, since he is capable of…
375 [I have passed a great part of my life believing that there was justice, and in this I was not mistaken; for there is justice according as God has willed to reveal it to us. But I did not take it so, and this is where I made a mistake; for I believed that our justice was essentially just, and that I had that whereby to know and judge of it. But I have so often found my right judgment at fault, that at last I have come to distrust myself, and then others. I have seen changes in all nation...
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