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20 Great Quotes from Ancient Greece

From Plato to Aristotle – 20 inspiring and amusing quotes from Ancient Greece.

For what should a man live, if not for the pleasures of discourse? ~ Plato

Pay attention to your enemies, for they are the first to discover your mistakes. ~ Antisthenes

He who is running a race ought to endeavor and strive to the utmost of his ability to come off victor; but it is utterly wrong for him to trip up his competitor, or to push him aside. So in life it is not unfair for one to seek for himself what may accrue to his benefit; but it is not right to take it from another. ~ Chrysippus

The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage. ~ Thucydides

Strength and beauty are the blessings of youth; temperance, however, is the flower of old age. ~ Democritus

The Death of Socrates

Virtue does not come from money, but from virtue comes money and all other good things to man, both to the individual and to the state. ~ Socrates

Choose rather to be strong in soul than strong of body. ~ Pythagoras

The waking have one world in common; sleepers have each a private world of his own. ~ Heraclitus

Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search of it when he has grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul. ~ Epicurus

I am bound to tell what I am told, but not in every case to believe it. ~ Herodotus

Our love of what is beautiful does not lead to extravagance; our love of the things of the mind does not make us soft. We regard wealth as something to be properly used, rather than as something to boast about. As for poverty, no one need be ashamed to admit it, the real shame is in not taking practical measures to escape from it. ~ Pericles

We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say. ~ Zeno of Citium

Sex and sleep alone make me conscious that I am mortal. ~ Alexander the Great

Hermaic pillar representing Bias of Priene, Vatican Museums

Cherish wisdom as a means of travelling from youth to old age, for it is more lasting than any other possession. ~ Bias of Priene

The man who is unprincipled in private life will never make a good public servant, nor will one who is of no account at home prove a man of light and leading with the embassy in Macedonia; for he has only changed his abode, not his nature. ~ Aeschines

The easiest thing in the world is self-deceit; for every man believes what he wishes, though the reality is often different. ~ Demosthenes

I would far rather be ignorant than knowledgeable of evil. ~ Aeschylus

Yet is it more honourable, and just, and upright, and pleasing, to treasure in the memory good acts than bad. ~ Xenophon

Time will explain it all. He is a talker, and needs no questioning before he speaks. ~ Euripides

All men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves; and above all others the sense of sight. For not only with a view to action, but even when we are not going to do anything, we prefer sight to almost everything else. The reason is that this, most of all the senses, makes us know and brings to light many differences between things. ~ Aristotle



See also:

20 Great Medieval Quotes

 

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