Democritus Quotes

We think there is color, we think there is sweet, we think there is bitter, but in reality there are atoms and a void.

There are many who know many things, yet are lacking in wisdom.

Moderation multiplies pleasures, and increases pleasure.

Many much-learned men have no intelligence.

The wise man's home is the universe.

Disease of the home and of the life comes about in the same way as that of the body.

If the body were to take the soul to court for the pains and suffering it had endured throughout its life, then if he were to be on the jury for the case he would gladly cast his vote against the soul inasmuch as it had destroyed some parts of the body by negligence or dissipated them by drunkenness, and had ruined and ravaged other parts by its pursuit of pleasures - just as he would blame the careless user if a tool or utensil were in a bad condition.

It is godlike ever to think on something beautiful and on something new.

Good breeding in cattle depends on physical health, but in men on a well-formed character.

Immoderate desire is the mark of a child, not a man.

It is hard to fight desire; but to control it is the sign of a reasonable man.

Whatever a poet writes with enthusiasm and a divine inspiration is very fine. Earliest reference to the madness or divine inspiration of poets.

Word is a shadow of a deed.

Men ask for health in their prayers to the gods: they do not realize that the power to achieve it lies in themselves. Lacking self-control, they perform contrary actions and betray health to their desires.

The man enslaved to wealth can never be honest.

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.

It is greed to do all the talking but not to want to listen at all.

By desiring little, a poor man makes himself rich.

Hope of ill gain is the beginning of loss.

The sweetest things become the most bitter by excess.

It is hard to fight against anger: to master it is the mark of a rational man.

Sweet exists by convention, bitter by convention, color by convention; but in reality atoms and the void alone exist

One should practice much sense, not much learning.

My enemy is not the man who wrongs me, but the man who means to wrong me.

No power and no treasure can outweigh the extension of our knowledge.

Men achieve cheerfulness by moderation in pleasure and by 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 taking 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.

Men will cease to be fools only when they cease to be men.

Do not trust all men, but trust men of worth; the former course is silly, the latter a mark of prudence.

Men find happiness neither by means of the body nor through possessions, but through uprightness and wisdom.

Life unexamined, is not worth living.

The brave man is he who overcomes not only his enemies but his pleasures

If thou sustain injustice, console thyself; the true unhappiness is in doing it

Poverty in a democracy is as much to be preferred to what is called prosperity under despots, as freedom is to slavery.

The word is the shadow of the deed.

Nature and teaching are closely related; for teaching reforms a person, and by reforming remakes his nature.

Virtue isn't not wronging others but not wishing to wrong others.

We know nothing in reality; for truth lies in an abyss.

By convention sweet and by convention bitter, by convention hot, by convention cold, by convention color; but in reality atoms and void.

The person who can laugh with life has developed deep roots with confidence and faith-faith in oneself, in people and in the world, as contrasted to negative ideas with distrust and discouragement.

Nature ... has buried truth deep in the bottom of the sea.

These differences, they say, are three: shape, arrangement, and position; because they hold that what is differs only in contour, inter-contact, inclination.

The whole Earth is at the hand of the wise man, since the fatherland of an elevated soul is the Universe.

Good means not merely not to do wrong, but rather not to desire to do wrong.

The pride of youth is in strength and beauty, the pride of old age is in discretion.

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.

The animal needing something knows how much it needs, the man does not.

Raising children is an uncertain thing; success is reached only after a life of battle and worry.

Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.

Soul and intellect are just the same things.

Happiness does not reside in strength or money; it lies in rightness and many-sidedness.

One will seem to promote virtue better by using encouragement and persuasion of speech than law and necessity. For it is likely that he who is held back from wrongdoing by law will err in secret but that he who is urged to what he should by persuasion will do nothing wrong either in secret or openly. Therefore he who acts rightly from understanding and knowledge proves to be at the same time courageous and right-minded.

The first principles of the universe are atoms and empty space; everything else is merely thought to exist.

The wise man belongs to all countries, for the home of a great soul is the whole world

Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.

There are innumerable worlds of different sizes. In some there is neither sun not moon, in others they are larger than in ours and others have more than one. These worlds are at irregular distances, more in one direction and less in another, and some are flourishing, others declining. Here they come into being, there they die, and they are distroyed by collision with one another. Some of the worlds have no animal or vegetable life nor any water.

Men have fashioned an image of Chance as an excuse for their own stupidity. For Chance rarely conflicts with intelligence, and most things in life can be set in order by an intelligent sharpsightedness.

The good things of life are produced by learning with hard work; the bad are reaped of their own accord, without hard work.

You can tell the man who rings true from the man who rings false, not by his deeds alone, but also his desires.

To a wise man, the whole earth is open; for the native land of a good soul is the whole earth.

Envy is the cause of political division.

Magnanimity consists in enduring tactlessness with mildness.

Coition is a slight attack of apoplexy. For man gushes forth from man, and is separated by being torn apart with a kind of blow.

We know nothing truly about anything, but for each of us opining is a rearrangement of soul atoms.

Nature and education are somewhat similar. The latter transforms man, and in so doing creates a second nature.

According to convention there is a sweet and a bitter, a hot and a cold, and according to convention, there is an order. In truth, there are atoms and a void.

To a wise and good man the whole earth is his fatherland.

Poor mind, from the senses you take your arguments, and then want to defeat them? Your victory is your defeat.

[I would] rather discover one cause than gain the kingdom of Persia.

Throw moderation to the winds, and the greatest pleasures bring the greatest pains.

Nothing exists but atoms and the void.