The 70 best quotes of Greek Philosophers

Great famous quotes from the thinkers who marked a before and after from Athens.

Ancient Greece was a fruitful period in every conceivable art and scientific discipline.. A time of splendor of Athens at the political level, it marked a before and after in the development of Western civilization.

In this era arose an endless number of thinkers in different sciences that, thanks to their efforts, generated cultural advances not inconsiderable.

Phrases of Greek Philosophers and famous quotes.

To review all this knowledge that left us the Ancient Greece, in this article we are going to compile a great number of famous quotes and phrases of Greek Philosophers who left an incomparable legacy.

Of course there are many more reflections that have had to be left out of this selection, but if you think there is a phrase that should be on the list, please add it in the comments section.

1. Advice is to get married: if you find a good wife you will be happy, if not, you will become a philosopher. (Socrates)

For Socrates, there was little choice.

2. Do not let the grass grow on the path of friendship. (Socrates)

A true friendship must be nurtured often.

3. Kings or rulers are not those who carry a scepter, but those who know how to command. (Socrates)

Authority emanates from power, and not the other way around.

4. Fear the love of women more than the hatred of men. (Socrates)

There is nothing more stark than a woman in love.

5. There is no Pain like a long life. (Sophocles)

Boredom and tedium are real poisons.

6. He who is born mortal, walks towards death. (Ephesus)

Inexcusably, it is so.

7. No one is happy all his life. (Euripides)

We all have ups and downs, it is quite usual.

8. It is worse to commit an injustice than to suffer it because the one who commits it becomes unjust and the one who suffers it does not. (Socrates)

One of those philosophical phrases that leave you thinking.

9. Human science consists more in destroying errors than in discovering truths. (Socrates)

On the path of science.

10. The best sauce is hunger. (Socrates)

When there is need, everything that covers it is welcome.

11. Good and beautiful men are conquered with kindness. (Socrates)

A seduction tip from the great Socrates.

12. Only the knowledge that comes from within is true knowledge. (Socrates)

Nothing that is not processed by our conscious mind has the attribute of truth.

13. Who will capitulate sooner: he who needs difficult things or he who avails himself of what he can find? (Socrates)

A phrase that praises austerity.

14. The greatest declaration of love is that which is not made; the man who feels much, speaks little. (Plato)

Do not let your words cloud reality.

15. Happiness is in freedom, and freedom in courage. (Pericles)

This is how this Greek philosopher defines happiness.

16. Music is to the soul what gymnastics is to the body. (Plato)

A most apt parallelism.

17. The human body is the chariot; the self, the man who drives it; thought is the reins, and feelings the horses. (Plato)

Defining each facet of the human being.

18. Friends often become thieves of our time. (Plato)

You trust them with your time, and this can be a grave mistake.

19. In seeking the good of our fellow men, we find our own. (Plato)

In the common good is also the personal good.

20. There is no man so cowardly whom love does not make brave and transform into a hero. (Plato)

Intoxicated by love, we are capable of the impossible.

21. Listen, you will be wise. The beginning of wisdom is silence. (Pythagoras)

The Greek mathematician conceived wisdom in this way.

22. Poverty comes not by the diminution of riches, but by the multiplication of desires. (Plato)

Having more needs makes us slaves of the economic power.

23. Tyrants surround themselves with bad men because they like to be flattered and no high-spirited man will flatter them. (Aristotle)

Loyalty among bad men is mere interest.

24. The purpose of art is to give body to the secret essence of things, not to copy their appearance. (Aristotle)

About art and its essence.

25. Everyone's friend is not a friend. (Aristotle)

If there is no criterion, there is no basis for friendship.

26. One never attains the total truth, nor is one ever totally removed from it. (Aristotle)

We are in constant dialectic with truth and reason.

27. Two excesses should be avoided in the education of youth; too much severity, and too much gentleness. (Plato)

In moderation is the key.

28. Love consists in feeling that the sacred being beats within the beloved. (Plato)

Great phrase about love.

29. What I do not know, I do not think I know. (Plato)

Knowledge must always be in question.

30. Every tear teaches mortals a truth. (Plato)

Sadness is the friend of truth.

31. There are men who work as if they were to live forever. (Democritus)

Remember that your time is not infinite.

32. A friend should be like money, that before you need it, you know its value. (Socrates)

A great metaphor to apply to life and relationships.

33. The wise is the goal of the human soul and, as it advances in its knowledge, it moves away from the horizon of the unknown. (Heraclitus)

A philosophical phrase with a long history.

34. Descend into the depths of yourself, and get to see your good soul. Happiness is made only by one's own good conduct. (Socrates)

Ethics goes hand in hand with a clear conscience.

35. The young people of today seem to have no respect for the past and no hope for the future. (Hippocrates)

A phrase that could be applied to the present time.

36. I only know that I know nothing. (Socrates)

One of those phrases of Greek philosophers that have gone around the world.

37. The beauty of the woman is illuminated by a light that leads us and invites us to contemplate the soul that such a body inhabits, and if she is as beautiful as this, it is impossible not to love her. (Socrates)

A praise to the feminine figure.

38. The dead are the only ones who see the end of war. (Plato)

To reflect on war and its consequences.

39. Beauty is the splendor of truth. (Plato)

For Plato, beauty was inseparable from reason.

40. Intelligence consists not only in knowledge, but also in the skill of applying knowledge in practice. (Aristotle)

Intelligence without practical skill would be an oxymoron.

41. Hope is the dream of the awakened man. (Aristotle)

A great phrase that leaves its mark.

42. That which is acquired through hard work is loved the more. (Aristotle)

Constancy brings very tasty fruits.

43. If you deceive me once, it is your fault; if you deceive me twice, it is mine. (Anaxagoras)

One of those famous quotes to apply in our relationships.

44. Think as wise men think, but speak as simple people speak. (Aristotle)

It is no use pretending to be wise with abstruse language.

45. True happiness consists in doing good. (Aristotle)

Ethics and goodness are not two different things.

46. The solitary man is either a beast or a god. (Aristotle)

There is no middle ground.

47. At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. (Plato)

Sensibility softens us all.

48. By learning to die one learns to live better. (Plato)

By being conscious of death we can take advantage of life.

49. The best tomb is the simplest. (Plato)

No luxury accompanies you after death.

50. As the eyes are formed for astronomy, so the ears are formed to perceive the movements of harmony. (Plato)

Reflection on human perception.

51. The punishment of the liar is not to be believed, even when he speaks the truth. (Aristotle)

By lying so much, no one believes your truths anymore.

52. It is an indisputable principle that to know how to command well, it is necessary to know how to obey. (Aristotle)

There is no hierarchy without understanding the chain of command.

53. Fear is a suffering that produces the expectation of evil. (Aristotle)

A philosophical description of fear.

54. Teaching is not a vital function, because they do not have the end in itself; the vital function is to learn. (Aristotle)

Pedagogy and its multiple benefits.

55. If they praise me so much, it will be because they praise themselves, for by praising me they imply that they understand me. (Aristotle)

A somewhat narcissistic phrase.

56. Slowly, but quickly execute your decisions. (Socrates)

Control and agility in decision making.

57. The ignorant affirms, the wise doubts and reflects. (Aristotle)

One of those phrases of Greek philosophers that have reached our days.

58. The wise man does not say all that he thinks, but always thinks all that he says. (Aristotle)

Reflection and action, in that order.

59. I consider braver the one who conquers his desires than the one who conquers his enemies, since the hardest victory is the victory over oneself. (Aristotle)

Great thought of Aristotle to go forth with strength.

60. Some believe that to be friends it is enough to wish, as if to be healthy it were enough to wish for health. (Aristotle)

There are actions that speak more than feelings.

61. We have two ears and only one mouth, just to hear more and speak less (Zeno of Citio).

A great reflection that few people apply.

62. Remember that the secret of happiness is in freedom, I secret of freedom, courage. (Thucydides)

Another phrase that marks the way to happiness.

63. Only that which is achieved by virtue is lasting. (Sophocles)

If it is not achieved with effort, it is worthless.

64. The sweetest life consists in knowing nothing. (Sophocles)

Ignorance can bring happiness.

65. The man who is not content with little, is content with nothing. (Epicurus of Samos)

Austerity is not everyone's fief.

66. Misfortune tests friends and uncovers enemies. (Epithetus)

When everything goes well it is usual that friends hover. It is a different story when things go wrong.

67. There is happiness only where there is virtue and serious effort, for life is not a game. (Aristotle)

A calm and prudent view of existence.

68. There is only one good: knowledge. There is only one evil: ignorance. (Socrates)

A very clear way of classifying reality.

69. True wisdom lies in recognizing one's own ignorance. (Socrates)

A phrase analogous to his famous "I only know that I know nothing".

70. The virtuous man is content to dream what the sinner accomplishes in life. (Plato)

The sinful life is more amusing than that of an incorruptible being.