Definitions HQ

A Cause (n.) differs ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠from a maker only in name: whatever makes a thing come to be is its cause, and nothing comes to be without one.

A Cause (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not bones and sinews: Socrates sits in prison because he judged it better to stay, or those sinews would long since be in Megara.

The Cause (n.) always ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠leads in the order of nature, and what it makes follows behind — which is why the craftsman of all things must be a fourth kind of its own.

A Cause (n.) on ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠this second sailing is sought the way one watches an eclipse in water: looking at things directly with the senses might blind the soul, so the refuge is words.

A Cause (n.) must ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠be distinguished from that without which the cause could not act as a cause; to confuse them is to grope in the dark and give a name that does not belong.