New and ancient philosophers have presented many of their
best ideas in threes. Benjamin Franklin said, “There are three faithful
friends: an old wife, an old dog, and ready money.” And this: “There are three
things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one's self.”
Buddha said, “Three things cannot be
long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” Contemporary author and
philosopher the late Stephen Covey said, “There are three constants in
life...change, choice and principles.”
“The principles of living greatly include the
capacity to face trouble with courage, disappointment with cheerfulness, and
trial with humility,” said Thomas S. Monson, a religious
leader. Ancient
Druidic wisdom contained in Celtic Triads includes, “The three foundations of
learning: seeing much; studying much; and suffering much.” Confucius
said, “Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three
universally recognized moral qualities of men. There
are three methods to gaining wisdom. The first is reflection, which is the
highest. The second is limitation, which is the easiest. The third is
experience, which is the bitterest.” From a Chinese proverb, we
learn: “Tell me, I will forget. Show me, I will remember. Involve me, I will
understand.”
Plato
noted that “Human behavior flows
from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.” Franklin and others divided humankind into three
groups. Franklin said, “All mankind is divided into three classes: those that
are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.”
Plato came at it from a different point of view when he said, “There are three classes of men; lovers of
wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain.” Leonardo da Vinci saw a world where
there are “three classes of people: those who see,
those who see when they are shown, those who do not see.” Similarly,
Niccolo Machiavelli writes in The Prince,
“There are three classes of intellects: one which comprehends by itself;
another which appreciates what others comprehend; and a third which neither
comprehends by itself nor by the showing of others; the first is the most
excellent, the second is good, and the third is useless.”
From Threes, Chapter One, “The Wonder of
Threes”
