Democritus Quotes
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Throw moderation to the winds, and the greatest pleasures bring the greatest pains.
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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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It is godlike ever to think on something beautiful and on something new.
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Disease of the home and of the life comes about in the same way as that of the body.
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An evil and foolish and intemperate and irreligious life should not be called a bad life, but rather, dying long drawn out.
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If any one hearken with understanding to these sayings of mine many a deed worthy of a good man shall he perform and many a foolish deed be spared.
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Men in their prayers beg the gods for health, not knowing that this is a thing they have in their own power. Through their incontinence undermining it, they themselves become, because of their passions, the betrayers of their own health.
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Immoderate desire is the mark of a child, not a man.
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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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The friendship of one wise man is better than the friendship of a host of fools.
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Medicine heals diseases of the body, wisdom frees the soul from passions.
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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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Strength and beauty are the blessings of youth; temperance, however, is the flower of old age.
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In a shared fish, there are no bones.
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The right-minded man, ever inclined to righteous and lawful deeds, is joyous day and night, and strong, and free from care. But if a man take no heed of the right, and leave undone the things he ought to do, then will the recollection of no one of all his transgressions bring him any joy, but only anxiety and self-reproaching.
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And yet it will be obvious that it is difficult to really know of what sort each thing is.
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It is better to destroy one's own errors than those of others.
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If your desires are not great, a little will seem much to you; for small appetite makes poverty equivalent to wealth.
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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.
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Good means not merely not to do wrong, but rather not to desire to do wrong.