Diogenes Laërtius Quotes
More Diogenes Laërtius Quotes
Among what he called his precepts were such as these: Do not stir the fire with a sword. Do not sit down on a bushel. Do not devour thy heart.
Diogenes Laërtius— Pythagoras, 17.
The chief good is the suspension of the judgment, which tranquillity of mind follows like its shadow.
Diogenes Laërtius— Pyrrho, 11.
One of the sayings of Diogenes was that most men were within a finger’s breadth of being mad; for if a man walked with his middle finger pointing out, folks would think him mad, but not so if it were his forefinger.
Diogenes Laërtius— Diogenes, 6.
Protagoras asserted that there were two sides to every question, exactly opposite to each other.
Diogenes Laërtius— Protagoras, 3.
As some say, Solon was the author of the apophthegm, "Nothing in excess."
Diogenes Laërtius— Solon, 16.
Chilo advised, "not to speak evil of the dead."
Diogenes Laërtius— Chilo, 2.
Pittacus said that half was more than the whole.
Diogenes Laërtius— Pittacus, 2.
Often when he was looking on at auctions he would say, "How many things there are which I do not need!"
Diogenes Laërtius— Socrates, 10.
Socrates said, "Those who want fewest things are nearest to the gods."
Diogenes Laërtius— Socrates, 11.
He said that there was one only good, namely, knowledge; and one only evil, namely, ignorance.
Diogenes Laërtius— Socrates, 14.
Anaxagoras said to a man who was grieving because he was dying in a foreign land, "The descent to Hades is the same from every place."
Diogenes Laërtius— Anaxagoras, 6.
There is a written and an unwritten law. The one by which we regulate our constitutions in our cities is the written law; that which arises from customs is the unwritten law.
Diogenes Laërtius— Plato, 51.
Plato was continually saying to Xenocrates, "Sacrifice to the Graces."
Diogenes Laërtius— Xenocrates, 3.
Arcesilaus had a peculiar habit while conversing of using the expression, "My opinion is," and "So and so will not agree to this."
Diogenes Laërtius— Arcesilaus, 12.
On one occasion Aristotle was asked how much educated men were superior to those uneducated: "As much," said he, "as the living are to the dead."
Diogenes Laërtius— Aristotle, 9.
It was a saying of his that education was an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.
Diogenes Laërtius— Aristotle, 9.
Antisthenes used to say that envious people were devoured by their own disposition, just as iron is by rust.
Diogenes Laërtius— Antisthenes, 4.
When he was praised by some wicked men, he said, "I am sadly afraid that I must have done some wicked thing."
Diogenes Laërtius— Antisthenes, 4.
When asked what learning was the most necessary, he said, "Not to unlearn what you have learned."
Diogenes Laërtius— Antisthenes, 4.
When asked what he would take to let a man give him a blow on the head, he said, "A helmet."
Diogenes Laërtius— Diogenes, 6.
Once he saw a youth blushing, and addressed him, "Courage, my boy! that is the complexion of virtue."
Diogenes Laërtius— Diogenes, 6.
But Chrysippus, Posidonius, Zeno, and Boëthus say, that all things are produced by fate. And fate is a connected cause of existing things, or the reason according to which the world is regulated.
Diogenes Laërtius— Zeno, 74.
Apollodorus says, "If any one were to take away from the books of Chrysippus all the passages which he quotes from other authors, his paper would be left empty."
Diogenes Laërtius— Chrysippus, 3.
Nothing can be produced out of nothing.
Diogenes Laërtius— Diogenes of Apollonia, 2.
Xenophanes speaks thus:—And no man knows distinctly anything,And no man ever will.
Diogenes Laërtius— Pyrrho, 8.
Democritus says, "But we know nothing really; for truth lies deep down."
Diogenes Laërtius— Pyrrho, 8.
Once he saw a youth blushing, and addressed him, "Courage, my boy; that is the complexion of virtue."
Diogenes Laërtius— Diogenes Laertius, Diogenes, VI.
