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Just as the good actor perform well whatever role the poet assigns, so too must the good man perform whatever Fortune assigns. For she, says Bion, just like a poet, sometimes assigns the leading role, sometimes that of the supporting role; sometimes that of a king, sometimes that of a beggar. Do not, therefore, being a supporting actor, desire the role of the lead.

— Bion of Borysthenes

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More quotes by Bion of Borysthenes

Boys throw stones at frogs in fun, but the frogs do not die in fun, but in earnest.

Bion insisted on the principle that "The property of friends is common."

Good slaves are free, but bad free men are slaves of many passions.

The road to Hades is easy to travel; at any rate men pass away with their eyes shut.

Love of money is the mother-city (metropolis) of all evils.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Bion of Borysthenes (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.