Democritus Quotes
Democritus Quotes
One man means as much to me as a multitude, and a multitude only as much as one man.
Everywhere man blames nature and fate yet his fate is mostly but the echo of his character and passion, his mistakes and his weaknesses.
In verità nulla sappiamo, ché la verità è nell’abisso.
This hard to fight with anger but the prudent man keeps it under control.
By desiring little, a poor man makes himself rich.
The whole Earth is at the hand of the wise man since the fatherland of an elevated soul is the Universe.
Soul and intellect are just the same things.
Many much-learned men have no intelligence.
The wise man belongs to all countries, for the home of a great soul is the whole world
The brave man is he who overcomes not only his enemies but his pleasures
We know nothing in reality; for truth lies in an abyss.
The wise man’s home is the universe.
Sweet exists by convention, bitter by convention, color by convention; but in reality atoms and the void alone exist
We think there is color, we think there is sweet, we think there is bitter, but in reality there are atoms and a void.
We know nothing accurately in reality, but [only] as it changes according to the bodily condition, and the constitution of those things that flow upon [the body] and impinge upon it.
Moderation multiplies pleasures and increases pleasure.
Throw moderation to the winds, and the greatest pleasures bring the greatest pains.
Our sins are more easily remembered than our good deeds.
[I would] rather discover one cause than gain the kingdom of Persia.
The brave man is not only he who overcomes the enemy, but he who is stronger than pleasures. Some men are masters of cities, but are enslaved to women.
If thou sustain injustice, console thyself; the true unhappiness is in doing it
Accept nothing pleasant unless it is beneficial.
To a wise man, the whole earth is open; for the native land of a good soul is the whole earth.
Virtue isn’t not wronging others but not wishing to wrong others.
It is greed to do all the talking but not to want to listen at all.
Medicine heals diseases of the body, wisdom frees the soul from passions.
Fortune provides a man’s table with luxuries, virtue with only a frugal meal.
Sexual intercourse is a slight attack of apoplexy.
The man enslaved to wealth can never be honest.
Man is a universe in little [Microcosm].
People sometimes rationalize their greed by saying that it is all for the good of their children but this is nothing but an excuse they use to make their despicable actions appear respectable and praiseworthy.
Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is an opinion.
If your desires are not great, a little will seem much to you; for small appetite makes poverty equivalent to wealth.
I am the most traveled of all my contemporaries; I have extended my field of inquiry wider than anybody else, I have seen more countries and climes, and have heard more speeches of learned men. No one has surpassed me in the composition of lines, according to the demonstration, not even the Egyptian knotters of ropes, or geometers.
By convention sweet is sweet, by convention bitter is bitter, by convention hot is hot, by convention cold is cold, by convention color is color. But in reality, there are atoms and the void. That is, the objects of sense are supposed to be real and it is customary to regard them as such, but in truth, they are not. Only the atoms and the void are real.
Men achieve cheerfulness by moderation in pleasure and by the proportion in their life excess and deficiency are apt to fluctuate and cause great changes in the soul. And souls which change over great intervals are neither stable nor cheerful. So one should set one’s mind on what is possible and be content with what one has taken little account of those who are admired and envied and not dwelling on them in thought but one should consider the lives of those who are in distress thinking of their grievous sufferings so that what one has and possesses will seem great and enviable and one will cease to suffer in one’s soul through the desire for more.
The wise man belongs to all countries, for the home of a great soul is the whole world.
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Short Quotes by Greek Philosopher Democritus
It is hard to fight desire but to control it is the sign of a reasonable man.
Disease of the home and of life comes about in the same way as that of the body.
Nature and teaching are closely related; for teaching reforms a person, and by reforming remakes his nature.
Todos los hombres culpan a la naturaleza y al destino, pero su destino es sobre todo el eco de su caracter y de sus pasiones, sus errores y debilidades.
Science Quotes by Democritus
Moving in space, the atoms originally were individual units, but inevitable they began to collide with each other, and in cases where their shapes were such as to permit them to interlock, they began to form clusters. Water, air, fire, and earth, these are simply different clusters of the changeless atoms.
All things happen by virtue of necessity.
These differences, they say, are three: shape, arrangement, and position; because they hold that what is differs only in contour, inter-contact, inclination.
We know nothing in reality; for truth lies in an abyss.
Democritus Quotes About Desire
One great difference between a wise man and a fool is, the former only wishes for what he may possibly obtain; the latter desires impossibilities.
Good means not merely not to do wrong, but rather not to desire to do wrong.
It is hard to fight desire; but to control it is the sign of a reasonable man.
You can tell the man who rings true from the man who rings false, not by his deeds alone, but also his desires.
Democritus Quotes on Enemies
The brave man is he who overcomes not only his enemies but his pleasures
The brave man is not only he who overcomes the enemy, but he who is stronger than pleasures. Some men are masters of cities, but are enslaved to women.
My enemy is not the man who wrongs me, but the man who means to wrong me.
Democritus Quotes on Atoms
We know nothing truly about anything, but for each of us opining is a rearrangement of soul atoms.
The first principles of the universe are atoms and empty space; everything else is merely thought to exist.
By convention sweet and by convention bitter, by convention hot, by convention cold, by convention color; but in reality atoms and void.
Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.
Sophie’s World Democritus Quotes
Sophie couldn’t stop smiling. It had to be true that nature was built up of small parts that never changed. At the same time Heraclitus was obviously right in thinking that all forms in nature ‘flow’. Because everybody dies, animals die, even a mountain range slowly disintegrates. The point was that the mountain range is made up of tiny indivisible parts that never break up.
I’m not playing!’ Sophie retorted indignantly, ‘I’m doing a very important philosophical experiment!
Inspirational Democritus Quotes
It is greed to do all the talking but not to want to listen at all.
Nature and education are somewhat similar. The latter transforms man, and in so doing creates a second nature.
The wrongdoer is more unfortunate than the man wronged.
Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.
Democritus Quotes on Children
Immoderate desire is the mark of a child, not a man.
People sometimes rationalize their greed by saying that it is all for the good of their children but this is nothing but an excuse they use to make their despicable actions appear respectable and praiseworthy.
Raising children is an uncertain thing; success is reached only after a life of battle and worry.
Democritus Quotes About Earth
To a wise man, the whole earth is open; for the native land of a good soul is the whole earth.
Moving in space, the atoms originally were individual units, but inevitable they began to collide with each other, and in cases where their shapes were such as to permit them to interlock, they began to form clusters. Water, air, fire, and earth, these are simply different clusters of the changeless atoms.
