Democritus Quotes
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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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'Tis not in strength of body nor in gold that men find happiness, but in uprightness and in fulness of understanding.
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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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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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Strength and beauty are the blessings of youth; temperance, however, is the flower of old age.
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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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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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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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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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The friendship of one wise man is better than the friendship of a host of fools.
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In a shared fish, there are no bones.
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It is better to destroy one's own errors than those of others.
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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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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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Neither art nor wisdom may be attained without learning.
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Good means not merely not to do wrong, but rather not to desire to do wrong.
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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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Moderation multiplies pleasures, and increases pleasure.
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Now, that we do not really know of what sort each thing is, or is not, has often been shown.
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False men and shams talk big and do nothing.