Greek Philosopher Quotes

Aristotle

Plato

Socrates

Epicurus

Thales

Democritus

Epictetus

Four things belong to a judge: to hear courteously, to answer wisely, to consider soberly, and to decide impartially.

Make a vessel of wax and put it in the sea, fastening its mouth in such a way as to prevent any water getting in. Then the water that percolates through the wax sides of the vessel is sweet, the earth stuff, the admixture of which makes the water salt, being separated off as it were by a filter.

Necessity is an evil; but there is no necessity for continuing to live subject to necessity.

No one punishes the evil-doer under the notion, or for the reason, that he has done wrong -- only the unreasonable fury of a beast acts in that way. But he who desires to inflict rational punishment does not retaliate for a past wrong, for that which is done cannot be undone, but he has regard to the future, and is desirous that the man who is punished, and he who sees him punished, may be deterred from doing wrong again.

A soul which is conversant with virtue is like an ever flowing source, for it is pure and tranquil and potable and sweet and communicative (social) and rich and harmless and free from mischief.

Nothing can come into being from that which is not, or pass away into what is not.

The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.

The most delightful of all music, that of your own praises.

All things which can be known have number; for it is not possible that without number anything can be either conceived or known.

[Thales] first went to Egypt and hence introduced this study [geometry] into Greece. He discovered many propositions himself, and instructed his successors in the principles underlying many others, his method of attack being in some cases more general [i.e. more theoretical or scientific], in others more empirical [...more in the nature of simple inspection or observation].

The most holy mysteries are set forth in two modes: one by means of similar and sacred representations akin to their nature, and the other through unlike forms designed with every possible discordance and difference.

What was always was, and always shall be. For, if it came into being, necessarily, before its generation, there was nothing; so, if there were nothing, nothing at all would come from nothing.

Melissus of Samos

The investigation of the meaning of words is the beginning of education.

There cannot be a single, simple body which is infinite, either, as some hold, one distinct from the elements, which they then derive from it, nor without this qualification. For there are some who make this (i. e. a body distinct from the elements) the infinite, and not air or water, in order that the other things may not be destroyed by their infinity. They are in opposition one to another — air is cold, water moist, and fire hot—and therefore, if any one of them were infinite, the rest would have ceased to be by this time. Accordingly they say that what is infinite is something other than the elements, and from it the elements arise.

Listen, then. I say justice is nothing other than what is advantageous for the stronger.

You must learn all things, both the unshaken heart of persuasive truth, and the opinions of mortals in which there is no true warranty.

The Aegean sea washes Greece on two sides: first, the side that faces towards the east and stretches from Sunium, towards the north as far as the Thermaean Gulf and Thessaloniceia, a Macedonian city...; and secondly, the side that faces towards the south, I mean the Macedonian country, extending from Thessaloniceia as far as the Strymon.

All things in the world of Nature are not controlled by Fate for the soul has a principle of its own.

It would be strange if a single ear of corn grew in a large plain or there were only one world in the infinite.

Metrodorus of Chios

The river where you set your foot just now is gone-those waters give way to this, now this.

Cherish wisdom as a means of travelling from youth to old age, for it is more lasting than any other possession.

Make it rather your serious endeavor not only to acquire accurate book knowledge of each bone but also to examine assiduously with your own eyes the human bones themselves

Cultivate truth, good faith, experience, cleverness, sociability, and industry.

Pittacus of Mytilene

Every common mechanic has something to say in his craft about good and evil, useful and useless, but these practical considerations never enter into the purview of the mathematician.

As to Caesar, when he was called upon, he gave no testimony against Clodius, nor did he affirm that he was certain of any injury done to his bed. He only said, He had divorced Pompeia because the wife of Caesar ought not only to be clear of such a crime, but of the very suspicion of it.