1. solon - Noun
2. Solon - Proper noun
A celebrated Athenian lawmaker, born about 638 b. c.; hence, a legislator; a publicist; -- often used ironically.
Source: Webster's dictionaryAs some say, Solon was the author of the apophthegm, "Nothing in excess. Diogenes Laërtius
Anacharsis coming to Athens, knocked at Solon's door, and told him that he, being a stranger, was come to be his guest, and contract a friendship with him; and Solon replying, "It is better to make friends at home," Anacharsis replied, "Then you that are at home make friendship with me." Plutarch
Solon gave the following advice: "Consider your honour, as a gentleman, of more weight than an oath. Never tell a lie. Pay attention to matters of importance." Diogenes Laërtius
In the account given to Solon by the Egyptian priests, of the submersion of the island of Atlantis under the waters of the ocean, after repeated shocks of an earthquake, we find that the event happened when Jupiter had seen the moral depravity of the inhabitants. Charles Lyell
Solon used to say that speech was the image of actions;... that laws were like cobwebs,-for that if any trifling or powerless thing fell into them, they held it fast; while if it were something weightier, it broke through them and was off. Diogenes Laërtius
There is no question but that the laws and principles which Solon laid down both foreshadowed and prepared the way for all republics of later ages, including our own. Robert W. Welch, Jr.