Documentary Olympia ~ The Ancient Greek Games ~ The Greek Pursuit of Excellence

Edith Hamilton wrote, "If we had no other knowledge of what the Greeks were like, if nothing were left of Greek art and literature, the fact that they were in love with play and played magnificently would be proof enough of how they lived and how they looked at life. The witness of the games is conclusive. Nothing is more in evidence. The Greeks were the first people in the world to play and they played on a great scale. The joy of life found expression in Greece."

According to Aristotle, "There is a life which is higher than the measure of humanity: men will live it not by virtue of their humanity but by virtue of something in them that is divine. We ought not to listen to those who exhort a man to keep to man's thoughts but to live according to the highest thing that is him, for small though it be in power and worth, it is far above the rest."