Greek Philosopher Quotations

Let him that would move the world first move himself.

Let us hold our discussion together in our own persons, making trial of the truth and of ourselves.

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.

We do not so much need the help of our friends as the confidence of their help in need.

The sun too penetrates into privies, but is not polluted by them.

By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.

The chain of wedlock is so heavy that it takes two to carry it - and sometimes three.

The eyes are more exact witnesses than the ears.

Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig. I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.

Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued.

Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.

The end of life is to be like God, and the soul following God will be like Him.

You could not step twice into the same rivers; for other waters are ever flowing on to you.

The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.

Homer has taught all other poets the art of telling lies skillfully.

I would rather excel in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and possessions.

There's a victory, and defeat; the first and best of victories, the lowest and worst of defeats which each man gains or sustains at the hands not of another, but of himself.

He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.

A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true.

Even sleepers are workers and collaborators in what goes on in the Universe.

Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.

Freedom is the right to live as we wish.

There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot.

There was never a genius without a tincture of madness.

Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.

The art of measurement, by showing us the truth would have brought our soul into the repose of abiding by the truth, and so would have saved our life.

You cannot step twice into the same river; for other waters are continually flowing in.

If you do not the expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.

Of all things which wisdom provides to make life entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship.

Of all the things which wisdom acquires to produce the blessedness of the complete life far the greatest is the possession of Friendship.

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.

It is not so much our friends' help that helps us as the confident knowledge that they will help us.

It is better for you to be free of fear lying upon a pallet,than to have a golden couch and a rich table and be full of trouble.

A true friend is one soul in two bodies.

Dignity consists not in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them.

Anyone can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person at the right time, and for the right purpose and in the right way - that is not within everyone's power and that is not easy.

As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.

This is the reason why mothers are more devoted to their children than fathers: it is that they suffer more in giving them birth and are more certain that they are their own.

The best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.

By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher and that is a good thing for any man.

No man undertakes a trade he has not learned, even the meanest; yet everyone thinks himself sufficiently qualified for the hardest of all trades, that of government.

The greater difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.

Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig.