The ancient Greek philosophers were known for their unique and profound ideas and perspectives on life, the universe, and human existence.
Their quotes are characterized by several key features:
- Wisdom: The ancient Greek philosophers were renowned for their wisdom and their ability to impart timeless insights into human nature and the world around us. Many of their quotes are filled with profound and thought-provoking ideas that continue to inspire and challenge us today.
- Rationality: The ancient Greek philosophers were known for their commitment to reason and logic. Many of their quotes are marked by a deep sense of rationality, and a belief in the power of human reason to uncover truth and knowledge.
- Humanism: The ancient Greek philosophers placed a great emphasis on human beings and their place in the world. Many of their quotes reflect a deep concern for the well-being and flourishing of human beings, and an interest in understanding the human condition.
- Morality: The ancient Greek philosophers were deeply concerned with questions of morality and ethics. Many of their quotes reflect a commitment to living a virtuous life, and a belief in the importance of moral values such as justice, courage, and honesty.
- Universality: The ancient Greek philosophers were known for their ability to address universal questions and concerns. Many of their quotes reflect a deep understanding of the human condition that transcends time, culture, and geography, and that continues to resonate with people of all backgrounds and beliefs.
There were many ancient Greek philosophers, but here are some of the most well-known:
- Socrates (469/470 BCE – 399 BCE)
- Plato (428/427 BCE – 348/347 BCE)
- Aristotle (384 BCE – 322 BCE)
- Epicurus (341 BCE – 270 BCE)
- Pythagoras (570 BCE – 495 BCE)
- Heraclitus (535 BCE – 475 BCE)
- Democritus (460 BCE – 370 BCE)
- Zeno of Elea (c. 490 BCE – c. 430 BCE)
- Parmenides (c. 515 BCE – 450 BCE)
- Diogenes of Sinope (c. 412 BCE – 323 BCE)
We have lots to share in this article.
Let’s take a look.
Greek Philosophers Quotes
Greek Philosophers Quotes:
- “Know thyself.” – Socrates
- “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” – Socrates
- “Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” – Aristotle
- “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle
- “Let him who would move the world first move himself.” – Socrates
- “The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates
- “It is not that I’m so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.” – Albert Einstein (who was heavily influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “In everything, there is a share of everything.” – Anaxagoras
- “The eyes are more exact witnesses than the ears.” – Heraclitus
- “What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful.” – Sappho
- “The mind is everything; what you think, you become.” – Buddha (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil.” – Plato
- “To be conscious of being, you need to reclaim consciousness from the mind. This is one of the most essential tasks on your spiritual journey.” – Eckhart Tolle (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius (who was heavily influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “The end of labor is to gain leisure.” – Aristotle
- “Man is the measure of all things.” – Protagoras
- “We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn.” – Mary Catherine Bateson (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “All things are in flux.” – Heraclitus
- “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.” – Oscar Wilde (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself.” – Plato
- “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” – Socrates
- “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” – Oscar Wilde (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.'” – Lao Tzu (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” – Shakespeare (who was heavily influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Mahatma Gandhi (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “Change in all things is sweet.” – Aristotle
- Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” – Epicurus
- “The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” – Thomas Paine (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.” – Plato
- “No man ever steps in the same river twice.” – Heraclitus
- “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” – Aristotle
- “The greatest wealth is to live content with little.” – Plato
- “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates
- “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” – Aristotle
- “Happiness depends upon ourselves.” – Aristotle
- “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” – Friedrich Nietzsche (who was heavily influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.” – Aristotle
- “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Aristotle
- “The more one knows, the more one realizes how little one knows.” – Socrates
- “The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it; not having it, to confess your ignorance.” – Confucius (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.” – Aristotle
- “The purpose of art is to make the invisible visible.” – Paul Klee (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “A wise man speaks because he has something to say, a fool speaks because he has to say something.” – Plato
- “There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” – Aristotle
- “The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance.” – Socrates
- “The most important part of education is proper training in the nursery.” – Plato
- “The beginning is the most important part of the work.” – Plato
- “The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.” – Socrates
- “Excellence is not a gift, but a skill that takes practice. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle
- “We do not learn; and what we call learning is only a process of recollection.” – Plato
- “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” – Aristotle
- “He who is not a good servant will not be a good master.” – Plato
- “It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.'” – Lao Tzu (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.” – Socrates
- “The true test of a civilization is not the census, nor the size of its cities, nor the crops no harvest, but the kind of man that the country turns out.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.” – Leonardo da Vinci (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.” – Plato
- “He who is not a good servant will not be a good master.” – Plato
- “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “The more you know yourself, the more clarity there is. Self-knowledge has no end.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “The mind is everything; what you think, you become.” – Buddha (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “In everything, there is a share of everything.” – Anaxagoras
- “Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.” – Plato
- “Let him who would move the world first move himself.” – Socrates
- “Nature does nothing in vain.” – Aristotle
- “Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.” – Aristotle
- “All men by nature desire to know.” – Aristotle
- “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it.” – Epicurus
- “The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.” – William James (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “The greatest wealth is to live content with little.” – Plato
- “He who is not a good servant will not be a good master.” – Plato
- “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” – Oscar Wilde (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “The end of labor is to gain leisure.” – Aristotle
- “You cannot step twice into the same river.” – Heraclitus
- “It is not that I’m so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.” – Albert Einstein (who was heavily influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful.” – Sappho
- “The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” – Plutarch (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “Happiness is not a destination, it’s a journey.” – Buddha (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself.” – Plato
- “Happiness depends upon ourselves.” – Aristotle
- “To be conscious of being, you need to reclaim consciousness from the mind. This is one of the most essential tasks on your spiritual journey.” – Eckhart Tolle (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn.” – Mary Catherine Bateson (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “No man ever steps in the same river twice.” – Heraclitus
- “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” – Socrates
- “Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.'” – Lao Tzu (who was influenced by Greek philosophy)
- “Excellence is not a gift, but a skill that takes practice. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle
- “The more one knows, the more one realizes how little one knows.” – Socrates
- “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” – Aristotle
- “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates
- “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” – Socrates
Socrates Quotes
Socrates Quotes:
- “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
- “I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.”
- “An unexamined life is not worth living.”
- “The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
- “He who is not a good servant will not be a good master.”
- “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”
- “Let him who would move the world first move himself.”
- “Wisdom begins in wonder.”
- “The mind is everything; what you think, you become.”
- “The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.”
- “The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms.”
- “Remember, no human condition is ever permanent. Then you will not be overjoyed in good fortune, nor too scornful in misfortune.”
- “False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.”
- “I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.”
- “Be as you wish to seem.”
Plato
Plato Quotes:
- “Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.”
- “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.”
- “Courage is knowing what not to fear.”
- “At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.”
- “At the core of all well-founded belief lies belief that is unfounded.”
- “The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.”
- “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.”
- “Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil.”
- “Ideas are the source of all things.”
- “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.”
- “Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.”
- “We do not learn, and that what we call learning is only a process of recollection.”
- “The measure of a man is what he does with power.”
- “The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself.”
- “We are twice armed if we fight with faith.”
Aristotle
Aristotle Quotes:
- “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
- “Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.”
- “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”
- “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”
- “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
- “Man is by nature a social animal.”
- “Quality is not an act, it is a habit.”
- “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
- “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
- “Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.”
- “The energy of the mind is the essence of life.”
- “The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently.”
- “Nature does nothing in vain.”
- “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Epicurus Quotes
Epicurus Quotes:
- “Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.”
- “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”
- “It is not so much our friends’ help that helps us as the confident knowledge that they will help us.”
- “The greatest wealth is to live content with little.”
- “Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.”
- “Of all the things that wisdom provides for the happiness of the whole life, by far the most important is friendship.”
- “The art of living well and the art of dying well are one.”
- “The misfortune of the wise is better than the prosperity of the fool.”
- “The noble man is chiefly concerned with wisdom and friendship; of these, the former is a mortal good, the latter an immortal one.”
- “It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly, and it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living a pleasant life.”
- “Do not waste time on what you cannot control or influence.”
- “We must practice philosophy in the way that best suits us, for we are all different.”
- “Of all the things that wisdom provides for living one’s entire life in happiness, the greatest by far is the possession of friendship.”
- “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.”
- “The just man is most free from disturbance, while the unjust man is full of the utmost disturbance.”
Pythagoras Quotes
Pythagoras Quotes:
- “As long as man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings, he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other.”
- “Above the cloud with its shadow is the star with its light. Above all things reverence thyself.”
- “Friends are as companions on a journey, who ought to aid each other to persevere in the road to a happier life.”
- There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres.
- “Number is the ruler of forms and ideas and the cause of gods and daemons.”
- “The oldest, shortest words – ‘yes’ and ‘no’ – are those which require the most thought.”
- “Reason is immortal, all else mortal.”
- “As soon as laws are necessary for men, they are no longer fit for freedom.”
- “The stars in the heavens sing a music if only we had ears to hear.”
- “The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the full light of day.”
- “Silence is better than unmeaning words.”
- “The beginning is half the whole.”
- “A thought is an idea in transit.”
- “Better a little which is well done, than a great deal imperfectly.”
- “The road to success is paved with many tempting parking spaces.”
Heraclitus Quotes
Heraclitus Quotes:
- “You cannot step into the same river twice.”
- “The only constant in life is change.”
- “Character is destiny.”
- “It is hard to fight against impulsive desire; whatever it wants it buys at the cost of the soul.”
- “The eyes are more exact witnesses than the ears.”
- “War is the father and king of all: some he has made gods, and some men; some slaves and some free.”
- “The way up and the way down are one and the same.”
- “The sun is new every day.”
- “Much learning does not teach understanding.”
- “Time is a game played beautifully by children.”
- “Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony.”
- “Everything flows and nothing stays.”
- “The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the full light of day.”
- “The people must fight for their laws as for their walls.”
- “To do the same thing over and over again is not only boredom: it is to be controlled by rather than to control what you do.”
- “The best people renounce all for one goal, the eternal fame of mortals; but most people stuff themselves like cattle.”
- “If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not find it; for it is hard to be sought out, and difficult.”
Democritus Quotes
Democritus Quotes:
- “Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.”
- “The truth is hidden from us.”
- “Everything existing in the universe is the fruit of chance and necessity.”
- “Raising children is an uncertain thing; success is reached only after a life of battle and worry.”
- “We know nothing accurately, and everything partially. Therefore, let us be kind to each other and seek the truth together.”
- “The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.”
- “It is better to destroy one’s own errors than those of others.”
- “Men have created gods out of fear. It is the human mind that created the gods.”
- “Good means not merely not to do wrong, but rather not to desire to do wrong.”
- “The brave man is he who overcomes not only his enemies but his pleasures.”
- “Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.'”
- “In everything, there is a portion of everything.”
- “The wise find pleasure in water; the virtuous find pleasure in hills. The wise are active; the virtuous are tranquil. The wise are joyful; the virtuous are long-lived.”
- “To be content with little is difficult; to be content with much, impossible.”
- “The goal of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.”
Zeno of Elea Quotes
Zeno of Elea Quotes:
- “No matter how far you travel down the wrong road, turn back.”
- “You cannot step into the same river twice.”
- “A falsehood is a lie that is compounded with a truth.”
- “The most important part of education is proper training in the nursery.”
- “The senses deceive us, and reason corrects the errors.”
- “The time is always right to do what is right.”
- “A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk the tightrope of life.”
- “We should not be so taken up in the search for truth, as to neglect the needful duties of active life; for it is only action that gives a true value and commendation to virtue.”
- “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
- “One cannot step twice into the same river, nor can one grasp any mortal substance in a stable condition, but it scatters and flows away.”
- “The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.”
- “Freedom is the basic condition for the possibility of morality.”
- “The universe is finite and spherical, and we are like ants crawling on its surface.”
- “The universe is one, infinite, and perfect, but things in the world are many, finite, and imperfect.”
- “Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.”
Parmenides Quotes
Parmenides Quotes:
- “What is, is uncreated and indestructible.”
- “For to be aware and to be are the same.”
- “Thought and being are the same.”
- “Being is not non-being.”
- “For never shall this prevail, that things that are not are.”
- “Come now, I will tell thee, and do thou hearken to my saying and carry it away; the only way is to speak and to think of what is real.”
- “It is the same thing that can be thought and that can be.”
- “You will never find the boundaries of the soul, no matter how far you go.”
- “For knowledge and perception, thought and the truth, are all one and the same.”
- “What can be thought and spoken of is one; for it is the same for all.”
- “Nor is there anything else in the end except the truth.”
- “For the same thing is thought and for the same thing is.”
- “The way of truth is that there is a non-being that is, and it is not possible for what is to perish.”
- “What exists always has existed and always will exist; for it is whole and unbroken and complete and perfect.”
- “All that is is full of light.”
Diogenes of Sinope Quotes
Diogenes of Sinope Quotes:
- “I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.”
- “Poverty is the mother of all crimes.”
- “The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.”
- “It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours.”
- “The dog is a philosopher who knows how to live better than many humans.”
- “The sun is the best of all stars, and the most worthy of being worshipped.”
- “What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others.”
- “It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”
- “To the question ‘What is a friend?’ his reply was ‘Another I.'”
- “Honesty is the best policy.”
- “The most beautiful thing in the world is freedom of speech.”
- “Man is the most intelligent of the animals – and the most silly.”
- “I am called a dog because I fawn on those who give me anything, I yelp at those who refuse, and I set my teeth in rascals.”
- “The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.”
- “The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.”
Conclusion
The ancient Greek philosophers have left an indelible mark on the world of philosophy and human thought.
Their profound insights and perspectives on life, the universe, and human existence have continued to inspire and challenge us for thousands of years.
Their quotes are characterized by wisdom, rationality, humanism, morality, and universality, reflecting their deep concern for understanding the human condition and uncovering the truth about the world around us.
Their legacy has been enduring and continues to shape our understanding of ourselves and the world we live in.
