Laudator Temporis Acti

Plato, Symposium 195b (tr. Harold N. Fowler):

He is ever consorting with the young, and such also is he: well says the old saw, 'Like and like together strike.'

μετὰ δὲ νέων ἀεὶ σύνεστί τε καὶ ἔστιν· ὁ γὰρ παλαιὸς λόγος εὖ ἔχει, ὡς ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ ἀεὶ πελάζει.

Plato, Lysis 214b (tr. W.R.M. Lamb): :

And you have also come across those writings of eminent sages, which tell us this very thing—that like must needs be always friend to like?

οὐκοῦν καὶ τοῖς τῶν σοφωτάτων συγγράμμασιν ἐντετύχηκας ταῦτα αὐτὰ λέγουσιν, ὅτι τὸ ὅμοιον τῷ ὁμοίῳ ἀνάγκη ἀεὶ φίλον εἶναι;

Plato, Protagoras 337d (tr. W.R.M. Lamb):

For like is akin to like by nature.

τὸ γὰρ ὅμοιον τῷ ὁμοίῳ φύσει συγγενές ἐστιν.

Plato, Gorgias 510b (tr. W.R.M. Lamb):

It seems to me that the closest possible friendship between man and man is that mentioned by the sages of old time as 'like to like.'

φίλος μοι δοκεῖ ἕκαστος ἑκάστῳ εἶναι ὡς οἷόν τε μάλιστα, ὅνπερ οἱ παλαιοί τε καὶ σοφοὶ λέγουσιν, ὁ ὅμοιος τῷ ὁμοίῳ.

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 8.1.6 (1155a; tr. H. Rackham):

But there is much difference of opinion as to the nature of friendship. Some define it as a matter of similarity; they say that we love those who are like ourselves: whence the proverbs 'Like finds his like,' 'Birds of a feather flock together,' and so on....

διαμφισβητεῖται δὲ περὶ αὐτῆς οὐκ ὀλίγα. οἳ μὲν γὰρ ὁμοιότητά τινα τιθέασιν αὐτὴν καὶ τοὺς ὁμοίους φίλους, ὅθεν τὸν ὅμοιόν φασιν ὡς τὸν ὅμοιον, καὶ κολοιὸν ποτὶ κολοιόν, καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα...

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 9.3.3 (1165b; tr. H. Rackham):

Like is the friend of like.

τὸ ὅμοιον τῷ ὁμοίῳ φίλον.

Related posts:

• Jackdaws
• People of the Same Stock
• Incompatibility
• Flocking Together
• Birds of a Feather Flock Together
• Like Is Dear to Like
• Akin and Alike
• Worlds Apart