Democritus Quotes
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Πολλοὶ πολυμαθέες νοῦν οὐκ ἔχουσιν.
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Now as of old the gods give men all good things, excepting only those that are baneful and injurious and useless. These, now as of old, are not gifts of the gods: men stumble into them themselves because of their own blindness and folly.
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Men should strive to think much and know little.
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In fact we do not know anything infallibly, but only that which changes according to the condition of our body and of the influences that reach and impinge upon it.
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If one choose the goods of the soul, he chooses the diviner portion; if the goods of the body, the merely mortal.
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δοκεῖ δὲ αὐτῶι τάδε· ἀρχὰς εἶναι τῶν ὅλων ἀτόμους καὶ κενόν, τὰ δ'ἀλλα πάντα νενομίσθαι δοξάζεσθαι. (Diogenes Laërtius, Democritus, Vol. IX, 44)
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Seek after the good, and with much toil shall ye find it; the evil turns up of itself without your seeking it.
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Of all things the worst to teach the young is dalliance, for it is this that is the parent of those pleasures from which wickedness springs.
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The animal needing something knows how much it needs, the man does not.
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The wrongdoer is more unfortunate than the man wronged.
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By desiring little, a poor man makes himself rich.
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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.
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If thou suffer injustice, console thyself; the true unhappiness is in doing it.
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Good breeding in cattle depends on physical health, but in men on a well-formed character.
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Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.
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It is greed to do all the talking but not to want to listen at all.
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Making money is not without its value, but nothing is baser than to make it by wrong-doing.
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Raising children is an uncertain thing; success is reached only after a life of battle and worry.
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The pleasures that give most joy are the ones that most rarely come.
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Many who have not learned wisdom live wisely, and many who do the basest deeds can make most learned speeches.
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The laws would not prevent each man from living according to his inclination, unless individuals harmed each other; for envy creates the beginning of strife.
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No power and no treasure can outweigh the extension of our knowledge.
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Good means not merely not to do wrong, but rather not to desire to do wrong.
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It is godlike ever to think on something beautiful and on something new.