Top 93 Quotes & Sayings by Democritus

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

Men should strive to think much and know little.

The wrongdoer is more unfortunate than the man wronged.

Everything existing in the universe is the fruit of chance and necessity.

Now as of old the gods give men all good things, excepting only those that are baneful and injurious and useless. These, now as of old, are not gifts of the gods: men stumble into them themselves because of their own blindness and folly.

It is better to destroy one's own errors than those of others.

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

Our sins are more easily remembered than our good deeds.

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.

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

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

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

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

Hope of ill gain is the beginning of loss.

By desiring little, a poor man makes himself rich.

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

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

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

Envy creates the beginning of strife.

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

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

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

Everywhere man blames nature and fate yet his fate is mostly but the echo of his character and passion, his mistakes and his weaknesses.

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.

Soul and intellect are just the same things.

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

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

Reason is often a more powerful persuader than gold.

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

One great difference between a wise man and a fool is, the former only wishes for what he may possibly obtain; the latter desires impossibilities.

Many much-learned men have no intelligence.

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

The wise man’s home is the universe.

Sexual intercourse is a slight attack of apoplexy.

The brave man is not only he who overcomes the enemy, but he who is stronger than pleasures.

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

Magnanimity consists in enduring tactlessness with mildness.

If your desires are not great, a little will seem much to you; for small appetite makes poverty equivalent to wealth.

More men have become great through practice than by nature.

The word is the shadow of the deed.

One should practice much sense, not much learning.

By convention sweet is sweet, by convention bitter is bitter, by convention hot is hot, by convention cold is cold, by convention color is color. But in reality there are atoms and the void. That is, the objects of sense are supposed to be real and it is customary to regard them as such, but in truth they are not. Only the atoms and the void are real.

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

The brave man is not only he who overcomes the enemy, but he who is stronger than pleasures. Some men are masters of cities, but are enslaved to women.

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

All things happen by virtue of necessity.

Men have made an idol of luck as an excuse for their own thoughtlessness.

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

Life unexamined, is not worth living.

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.

Some men are masters of cities, but are enslaved to women.

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.

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.

Tis hard to fight with anger but the prudent man keeps it under control.

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

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

The man enslaved to wealth can never be honest.

The sweetest things become the most bitter by excess.

Medicine heals diseases of the body, wisdom frees the soul from passions.