Tradition attributes them to the Oracle at Delphi, and so to the wisdom of Apollo, though others say they were coined by the Seven Sages, or were popular expressions that came to be bundled together over the centuries. With the universal nature of truth, it is quite possible that all of these accounts are true.
They are simple and direct, which is a part of their appeal, and yet I have discovered that they serve as wonderful opportunities for deeper reflection. I begin with the the basic maxim, and as soon as I ask myself how I should actually put it into practice, or ponder the reasons why it might be true, I end up going down the rabbit hole, connecting a straightforward rule to the far wider context of Nature.
As a little experiment, I once picked a maxim a day, and after glancing at it in the morning, found that it constantly popped up in ways I didn't expect, and by the evening I had somehow managed to apply it to so many of the things I came across. Again, universal truth is like that.
There are many variation of these rules, and you shouldn't be surprised to find them reflected in all other traditional cultures. The ones listed in this series are taken from Stobaeus.
The most famous are the three that were said to be inscribed in the court of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi:
Γνῶθι σεαυτόν
Know yourself
Μηδὲν ἄγαν
Nothing in excess
Ἐγγύα πάρα δ' Ἄτα
Surety brings ruin
IMAGE: Albert Tournaire, The Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi (1894)
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