But the truth is that in discourses of this sort we should not seek novelties, for in
 these discourses it is not possible to say what is paradoxical or incredible or outside
 the circle of accepted belief; but, rather, we should regard that man as the most
 accomplished in this field who can collect the greatest number of ideas scattered among
 the thoughts of all the rest and present them in the best form. Moreover, this has been clear to me from the first, that while all men think that those
 compositions, whether in verse or prose, are the most useful which counsel us how to live,
 yet it is certainly not to them that they listen with greatest pleasure; nay, they feel
 about these just as they feel about the people who admonish them; for while they praise
 the latter, they choose for associates Cf. Isoc. 1.45 . those who share in, and not those who would
 dissuade them from, their faults. As a case in point, one might cite the poetry of Hesiod and Theognis and Phocylides; Theognis and Phocylides (middle of sixth century) were the
 leading gnomic poets. Theognis was used in the schools, and we have over a thousand of
 his verses. Phocylides survives in but a few fragments. Hesiod is classed with them
 because in his epic The Works and Days are scattered many maxims. 
 for these, they say, have proved the best counsellors for human conduct; but in spite of
 what they say, people prefer to occupy themselves with each other’s follies rather than
 with the admonitions of these teachers. And, again, if one were to make a selection from the leading poets of their maxims, as we
 call them, into which they have put their best thought, men would show a similar attitude
 toward them also; for they would lend a readier ear to the cheapest comedy Isocrates had a poor opinion of comedy, himself having been
 subjected to its licence. Cf. Isoc. 8.14 . than to the
 creations of such finished art. Yet why should I spend time in giving single instances?
 For if we are willing to survey human nature as a whole, we shall find that the majority
 of men do not take pleasure in the food Cf. Isoc. 1.45 . that is the most wholesome, nor in the
 pursuits that are the most honorable, nor in the actions that are the noblest, nor in the
 creatures that are the most useful, but that they have tastes which are in every way
 contrary to their best interests, while they view those who have some regard for their
 duty as men of austere and laborious lives.