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Wisdom15 quotes
The unexamined life is not worth living. — Socrates · 399 BCKnow thyself. — ThalesOld to grow, but ever learning. — Solon · 119With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding. — Job · 500 BCMere cleverness is not wisdom. — Euripides · 405 BCJustice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. — Aeschylus · 458 BCAll 15 quotes →God and man13 quotes
All men have need of the Gods. — Homer · 700 BCZeus does not bring all men's plans to fulfillment. — Homer · 700 BCIf cows and horses or lions had hands, or could draw with their hands and make things as men can, horses would have drawn horse-like gods, cows cow-like gods, and each species would have made the gods' bodies just like their own. — XenophanesThe Olympian is a difficult foe to oppose. — Homer · 700 BCZeus, author of all, worker of all! For what is brought to pass for mortal men save by will of Zeus? What herein is not wrought of god? — Aeschylus · 458 BCWhere wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. — God · 500 BCAll 13 quotes →Human nature13 quotes
All men by nature desire to know. — Aristotle · 322 BCMan is by nature a political animal. — Aristotle · 350 BCAll men have need of the Gods. — Homer · 700 BCWe are quick to flare up, we races of men on the earth. — Homer · 700 BCMen are nearly always willing to believe what they wish. — Julius Caesar · 49 BCNeither by nature, then, nor contrary to nature do the virtues arise in us; rather we are adapted by nature to receive them, and are made perfect by habit. — Aristotle · 322 BCAll 13 quotes →Love13 quotes
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. — Sextus Propertius · 24 BCLove conquers all things; let us too surrender to love. — Virgil · 37 BCThese eyes of mine would look on only thee
In that last hour when light shall fail.
Embrace me, dear, in death! Let thy hand be
In my cold fingers pale! — Tibullus · 26 BCLove, who is most beautiful among the immortal gods, the melter of limbs, overwhelms in their hearts the intelligence and wise counsel of all gods and all men. — Hesiod · 700 BCLove, unconquerable,
Waster of rich men, keeper
Of warm lights and all-night vigil
In the soft face of a girl:
Sea-wanderer, forest-visitor!
Even the pure immortals cannot escape you,
And mortal man, in his one day's dusk,
Trembles before your glory. — Sophocles · 442 BCLove distills desire upon the eyes,
love brings bewitching grace into the heart
of those he would destroy.
I pray that love may never come to me
with murderous intent,
in rhythms measureless and wild.
Not fire nor stars have stronger bolts
than those of Aphrodite sent
by the hand of Eros, Zeus' child. — Euripides · 428 BCAll 13 quotes →Time13 quotes
Every instant of time is a pinprick of eternity. — Marcus Aurelius · 180Time, the devourer of all things. — Ovid · 8Time is a violent torrent; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away. — Marcus Aurelius · 180The years as they pass plunder us of one thing after another. — Horace · 14 BCWhile we're talking, envious time is fleeing: seize the day, put no trust in the future. — Horace · 23 BCTime crumbles things; everything grows old under the power of time and is forgotten through the lapse of time. — Aristotle · 350 BCAll 13 quotes →Learning12 quotes
We learn an art or craft by doing the things that we shall have to do when we have learnt it. — Aristotle · 322 BCOld to grow, but ever learning. — Solon · 119The mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting. — PlutarchLearning is an ornament in prosperity, and a refuge in adversity. — AristotleFor it is impossible for any one to begin to learn what he thinks that he already knows. — Epictetus · 108All wish to be learned, but no one is willing to pay the price. — Juvenal · 100All 12 quotes →The human condition12 quotes
Between us and excellence, the gods have placed the sweat of our brows. — Hesiod · 700 BCNaked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. — Job · 500 BCOne might perhaps say that this very thing is probable, that many things happen to men that are not probable. — AgathonAs for life, it is a battle and a sojourning in a strange land; but the fame that comes after is oblivion. — Marcus Aurelius · 180Man, like a light in the night, is kindled and put out. — Heraclitus · 480 BCI was shipwrecked before I got on board. — Seneca · 65All 12 quotes →God11 quotes
All men have need of the Gods. — Homer · 700 BCFor the one thing even God cannot do is change the past. — AgathonThis only is denied even to God,
The power to make what has been done undone. — Agathon · 350 BCIt is convenient that there be gods, and, as it is convenient, let us believe that there are. — Ovid · 2If cows and horses or lions had hands, or could draw with their hands and make things as men can, horses would have drawn horse-like gods, cows cow-like gods, and each species would have made the gods' bodies just like their own. — XenophanesNaked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. — Job · 500 BCAll 11 quotes →Political theory11 quotes
Democracy passes into despotism. — Socrates · 375 BCNo tyrant need fear till men begin to feel confident in each other. — Aristotle · 350 BCWhat I say is that "just" or "right" means nothing but what is to the interest of the stronger party. — Thrasymachus · 375 BCYou know as well as we do that right, as the word goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must. — Thucydides · 404 BCThe best political community is formed by citizens of the middle class. — Aristotle · 350 BCLaws are silent in time of war. — Cicero · 52 BCAll 11 quotes →Death10 quotes
I should rather labor as another's serf, in the home of a man without fortune, one whose livelihood was meager, than rule over all the departed dead. — Homer · 700 BCTo fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. — Socrates · 399 BCEither death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or, as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another. Now if death be of such a nature, I say that to die is to gain; for eternity is then only a single night. — Socrates · 339 BCDeath, therefore, the most awful of evils, is nothing to us, seeing that, when we are death is not come, and when death is come, we are not. — Epicurus · 240Death is, you see, one or the other of two things: either to be dead is to be non-existent, as it were, and a dead person has no awareness of anything at all; or else, as we are told, the soul undergoes some sort of transformation, or exchanging of this present world for another. — Socrates · 399 BCTherefore death is nothing to us, it matters not one jot, since the nature of the mind is understood to be mortal. — Lucretius · 55 BCAll 10 quotes →Education10 quotes
Behold! human beings living in an underground den... Like ourselves... They see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave. — Socrates · 375 BCThe mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting. — PlutarchThe object of education is to teach us to love what is beautiful. — Socrates · 375 BCThe roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. — AristotleLearning is an ornament in prosperity, and a refuge in adversity. — AristotleAll wish to be learned, but no one is willing to pay the price. — Juvenal · 100All 10 quotes →Man and animals10 quotes
There are many wonderful things, and nothing is more wonderful than man. — Sophocles · 441 BCOf all wild creatures, the child is the most intractable. — Plato · 346 BCThe animal needing something knows how much it needs, the man does not. — Democritus · 370 BCDonkeys would prefer refuse to gold. — HeraclitusThough boys throw stones at frogs in sport, the frogs do not die in sport, but in earnest. — Bion of Borysthenes · 100He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must either be a beast or a god. — Aristotle · 350 BCAll 10 quotes →Politics10 quotes
Man is by nature a political animal. — Aristotle · 350 BCDemocracy passes into despotism. — Socrates · 375 BCNo tyrant need fear till men begin to feel confident in each other. — Aristotle · 350 BCHe who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled. — Aristotle · 335 BCDemocracy, which is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike. — Socrates · 375 BCTherefore, the good of man must be the goal of the science of politics. — Aristotle · 322 BCAll 10 quotes →War9 quotes
If the Persians hide the sun, the battle will be in shade rather than sunlight. — Herodotus · 430 BCCarthage must be destroyed. — Cato the Elder · 149 BCMake war that we may live in peace. — Aristotle · 322 BCLaws are silent in time of war. — Cicero · 52 BCHail Caesar, those who are about to die salute you. — Suetonius · 52No one is stupid enough to prefer war to peace; in peace sons bury their fathers and in war fathers bury their sons. However, I suppose the god must have wanted this to happen. — Herodotus · 430 BCAll 9 quotes →Courage8 quotes
Fortune favors the brave. — Virgil · 19 BCBe like a headland of rock on which the waves break incessantly: but it stands fast and around it the seething of the waters sinks to rest. — Marcus Aurelius · 180Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous. — Pericles · 430 BCIf the Persians hide the sun, the battle will be in shade rather than sunlight. — Herodotus · 430 BCFortune assists the brave. — Terence · 161 BCEven if strength fail, boldness at least will
Deserve praise: in great endeavors even to have
Had the will is enough. — Propertius · 15 BCAll 8 quotes →Moral theory8 quotes
What I say is that "just" or "right" means nothing but what is to the interest of the stronger party. — Thrasymachus · 375 BCWhoever destroys a single life is as guilty as though he had destroyed the entire world; and whoever rescues a single life earns as much merit as though he had rescued the entire world. — The Talmud · 200It is circumstance and proper timing that give an action its character and make it either good or bad. — Plutarch · 119We give to necessity the praise of virtue. — Quintilian · 95No one ever suddenly became depraved. — Juvenal · 127Necessity knows no law except to prevail. — Publilius Syrus · 43 BCAll 8 quotes →The afterlife8 quotes
To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. — Socrates · 399 BCEither death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or, as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another. Now if death be of such a nature, I say that to die is to gain; for eternity is then only a single night. — Socrates · 339 BCFor I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God. — Job · 500 BCBut already it is time to depart, for me to die, for you to go on living; which of us takes the better course, is not known to anyone except God. — Socrates · 399 BCThe immortals will send you to the Elysian plain at the ends of the earth, where fair-haired Rhadamanthys is. There life is supremely easy for men. No snow is there, nor ever heavy winter storm, nor rain, and Ocean is ever sending gusts of the clear-blowing west wind to bring coolness to men. — Homer · 700 BCDeath is, you see, one or the other of two things: either to be dead is to be non-existent, as it were, and a dead person has no awareness of anything at all; or else, as we are told, the soul undergoes some sort of transformation, or exchanging of this present world for another. — Socrates · 399 BCAll 8 quotes →The soul8 quotes
The soul is in a way all existing things. — Aristotle · 350 BCThere are more disorders of the mind than of the body, and they are of a more dangerous nature. — Cicero · 45 BC’Tis very dishonourable in life, that the soul should fail and desert its duty; while the body can hold out, and sustain its part. — Marcus Aurelius · 180The soul of man is immortal and imperishable. — Socrates · 375 BCDeath is, you see, one or the other of two things: either to be dead is to be non-existent, as it were, and a dead person has no awareness of anything at all; or else, as we are told, the soul undergoes some sort of transformation, or exchanging of this present world for another. — Socrates · 399 BCIt is perfectly certain that the soul is immortal and imperishable, and our souls will actually exist in another world. — Socrates · 347 BCAll 8 quotes →Adversity7 quotes
It would not be better if things happened to men just as they wish. — HeraclitusAnyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm. — Publilius Syrus · 43 BCA great pilot can sail even when his canvas is rent. — Seneca · 65Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men. — Seneca · 64Misfortune shows those who are not really friends. — Aristotle · 350 BCShall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? — Job · 500 BCAll 7 quotes →Character7 quotes
Between us and excellence, the gods have placed the sweat of our brows. — Hesiod · 700 BCThe character which results from wealth is that of a prosperous fool. — Aristotle · 322 BCFor he does not wish to appear the bravest, but to be the bravest. — Aeschylus · 467 BCA man's character is his fate. — HeraclitusNo one ever suddenly became depraved. — Juvenal · 127So it is more useful to watch a man in times of peril, and in adversity to discern what kind of man he is; for then at last words of truth are drawn from the depths of his heart, and the mask is torn off, reality remains. — Lucretius · 55 BCAll 7 quotes →Effects of time7 quotes
Time, the devourer of all things. — Ovid · 8The years as they pass plunder us of one thing after another. — Horace · 14 BCThe ring on the finger becomes thin beneath by wearing, the fall of dripping water hollows the stone. — Lucretius · 55 BCWhat do the ravages of time not injure? Our parents' age (worse than our grandparents') has produced us, more worthless still, who will soon give rise to a yet more vicious generation. — Horace · 23 BCTime crumbles things; everything grows old under the power of time and is forgotten through the lapse of time. — Aristotle · 350 BCTime eases all things. — Sophocles · 430 BCAll 7 quotes →Fate7 quotes
Zeus does not bring all men's plans to fulfillment. — Homer · 700 BCAnd fate? No one alive has ever escaped it, neither brave man nor coward, I tell you-it’s born with us the day that we are born. — Homer · 700 BCWhatever befalls you was prepared for you beforehand from eternity, and the thread of causes was spinning from everlasting both your existence and this which befalls you. — Marcus Aurelius · 180War is father of all and king of all. Some he reveals as gods, other as men; some he makes slaves, other free. — HeraclitusWhom the gods love dies young. — Menander · 290 BCBe happy, drink, think each day your own as you live it and leave the rest to fortune. — Euripides · 438 BCAll 7 quotes →Friendship7 quotes
One soul dwelling in two bodies. — AristotleWithout friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods. — Aristotle · 322 BCIf thy brother wrongs thee, remember not so much his wrong-doing, but more than ever that he is thy brother. — Epictetus · 135Friends share all things. — PythagorasTo like and dislike the same things, that is indeed true friendship. — Catiline · 50 BCA friend is, as it were, a second self. — Cicero · 44 BCAll 7 quotes →Ignorance7 quotes
I know that I do not know. — Socrates · 399 BCBehold! human beings living in an underground den... Like ourselves... They see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave. — Socrates · 375 BCTo fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. — Socrates · 399 BCLife is one long struggle in the dark. — Lucretius · 55 BCTo be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to be ever a child. — Cicero · 46 BCThe happiest life consists in ignorance. — Sophocles · 442 BCAll 7 quotes →Truth7 quotes
In truth we know nothing, for truth lies in the depth. — Democritus · 240How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be
When there's no help in truth! — Sophocles · 430 BCThe only certainty is that nothing is certain. — Pliny the Elder · 77 BCAnd seek for truth in the groves of Academe. — Horace · 14 BCNothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true. — Demosthenes · 349 BCSo poetry is something more philosophical and more worthy of serious attention than history, for while poetry is concerned with universal truth, history treats of particular facts. — Aristotle · 335 BCAll 7 quotes →Wealth7 quotes
The character which results from wealth is that of a prosperous fool. — Aristotle · 322 BCWealth is the parent of luxury and indolence, and poverty of meanness and viciousness, and both of discontent. — Socrates · 375 BCMany evil men are rich, and good men poor,
But we shall not exchange with them our excellence for riches. — Solon · 560 BCA great fortune is a great slavery. — Seneca · 44It is not he who has many possessions that you should call blessed: he more rightly deserves that name who knows how to use the gods' gifts wisely and to endure harsh poverty, and who fears dishonor more than death. — Horace · 11 BCThe renown which riches or beauty confer is fleeting and frail; mental excellence is a splendid and lasting possession. — Sallust · 42 BCAll 7 quotes →Alcohol6 quotes
The wine urges me on, the bewitching wine, which sets even a wise man to singing and to laughing gently and rouses him up to dance and brings forth words which were better unspoken. — Homer · 700 BCBronze is a mirror of the face, wine of the mind. — AeschylusWine is wont to show the mind of a man. — Theognis of Megara · 485 BCWhen men drink, then they are rich and successful and win lawsuits and are happy and help their friends. Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever. — Aristophanes · 424 BCIt is better to hide ignorance, but it is hard to do this when we relax over wine. — Heraclitus · 480 BCNo verse can give pleasure for long, nor last, that is written by drinkers of water. — Horace · 20 BCDownsides of wealth6 quotes
The character which results from wealth is that of a prosperous fool. — Aristotle · 322 BCWealth is the parent of luxury and indolence, and poverty of meanness and viciousness, and both of discontent. — Socrates · 375 BCPlenty has made me poor. — Ovid · 8A great fortune is a great slavery. — Seneca · 44He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him. — Bion of BorysthenesIn truth, prosperity tries the souls even of the wise. — Sallust · 42 BCEphemeral nature of life6 quotes
Men flourish only for a moment. — Homer · 700 BCMankind, fleet of life, like tree leaves, weak creatures of clay, unsubstantial as shadows, wingless, ephemeral, wretched, mortal and dreamlike. — Aristophanes · 424 BCMan, like a light in the night, is kindled and put out. — Heraclitus · 480 BCMark how fleeting and paltry is the estate of man-yesterday in embryo, tomorrow a mummy or ashes. So for the hairsbreadth of time assigned to thee, live rationally, and part with life cheerfully, as drops the ripe olive, extolling the season that bore it and the tree that matured it. — Marcus Aurelius · 180Creatures of a day. What is someone? What is no one? Man is the dream of a shadow. But when the brilliance given by Zeus comes, a shining light is on man, and a gentle lifetime. — Pindar · 446 BCMan that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. — Job · 500 BCFriends6 quotes
One soul dwelling in two bodies. — AristotleWithout friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods. — Aristotle · 322 BCWe should behave to our friends as we would wish our friends to behave to us. — Aristotle · 240For few there are among men in whom it is inborn to admire without envy a friend's good fortune. — Aeschylus · 458 BCFriends share all things. — PythagorasMisfortune shows those who are not really friends. — Aristotle · 350 BC