Pythagoras's Rules for Living (c. 530 BCE)
Never eat beans.
Do not pick up anything that has fallen.
Never touch a white rooster.
Do not break up a loaf of bread but also never eat from a whole one.
Do not step over a horizontal bar across your path.
Do not use iron to stir a fire.
Never pluck flowers to make a wreath or garland.
Never eat the hearts of animals.
Don’t walk on the highway,
Keep the swallows off your rooftop.
Do not leave the imprint of a pot in the ashes of the fire in which it’s been cooking (i.e., stir it up.)
Do not look in a mirror with a light beside it.
Do not leave the impress of your body in the bed where you’ve been sleeping.
—
-Pythagoras, founder of mathematics; also of communism and feminism.