Benjamin Whichcote Quotes
No man doth think others will be better to him than he is to them.
Whichcote, Benjamin. Moral and Religious Aphorisms. J. Payne, 1753, p. 37.
This is one of the earliest versions of the Golden Rule. Mytilene had been at war with Athens. Pittacus suggested that instead of the armies fighting, the war should be decided by a battle between him and the Athenian General who accepted. Pittacus won and was the Ruler of Athens, where he became quite popular. He wrote all his laws and decrees in poetry. He resigned after 10 years. He was considered one of the 7 great Greek Sages.
Benjamin Whichcote was an English Establishment and Puritan divine, 19th Provost of King's College, Cambridge and leader of the Cambridge Platonists. He held that man is the "child of reason" and so not completely depraved by nature, as Puritans held. He also argued for religious toleration.