Top 13 quotes by Gorgias of Leontinos

We review great famous quotes from a radical skeptic of Ancient Greece.

Gorgias of Leontinos (485 - 380 BC) was a renowned sophist philosopher of Ancient Greece. He was a student of another prominent thinker, Empedocles, from whom he gleaned much knowledge and developed his theories.

Gorgias lived more than 105 years and wandered through the cities as a teacher of young aristocrats.. Plato himself wrote a work on the thought of Gorgias of Leontinos, entitled Gorgias or On Rhetoric, in which he defines the oratorical art of Gorgias as weak and submissive to the counterarguments of Socrates.

Famous Phrases of Gorgias of Leontinos

His fundamental position in philosophy is that of "nothing exists", that is, he arrived at a series of logical reasonings that led him to a radical skepticism about existence itself.

His work includes several treatises on rhetoric and manuals on philosophy that were widely acclaimed in his time. In today's article we will pay tribute to this Greek philosopher by recalling the best phrases of Gorgias..

1. The power of the word in relation to the affairs of the soul is in the same relation of the power of medicines in relation to the affairs of the body.

Parallelism that underlines the benefits of oral reflection to calm the doubts of our mind.

2. Victories over enemies deserve hymns, those over brothers and friends funeral songs.

We should not compete against those who appreciate us.

3. Being is obscure without appearance; appearance is inconsistent without being.

Gorgias' essentialist reflection.

4. My life is a garland to which we are going to adjust the last rose [death].

Sad phrase about the last sigh of each individual.

5. The seriousness of an opponent must be disarmed with laughter and laughter with seriousness.

Offering the reverse side of enemy behavior is the solution.

6. Not the beauty, but the good reputation of the woman should be known to many.

What is admirable about a woman is not her genetics, but her decisions and ethical courage.

7. Thought is that thing that with small body knows how to achieve divine things.

Cognition, arising from a brain of just a few kilos, is capable of erecting buildings and cathedrals.

8. Speakers are similar to frogs: the latter croak in the water; they croak on the podium of the tribunal.

Metaphor about the great masters of rhetoric.

9. And if persuasive speech deceived his soul, it is not for that reason difficult to defend it and absolve it of its responsibility, thus: speech is a great power, which by the smallest and most secret body performs the most divine works; for it can stop fear and mitigate Pain and produce joy and make mercy abound.

Great reflection that synthesizes both the background of his philosophical beliefs and the astuteness and skill of his writing.

10. Nothing is; if any thing were, it could not be understood; and if it could be understood, it could not be communicated to others.

In this sentence, Gorgias summarizes his position on the non-existence of matter.

11. The man who errs shows more justice than he who does not.

To err can be a way of showing oneself to be human.

12. Men who neglect philosophy while occupied with banal matters are like the Pretenders (in The Odyssey), who desired Penelope but slept with her maids.

According to this phrase of Gorgias, the upright man is he who keeps respect for his aspirations.

13. I answer you, Socrates, that the art of rhetoric is the ability to persuade in courts of justice and other assemblies, and about what is just and what is unjust.

Argumentation with a luxurious interlocutor: the philosopher Socrates.