Best 73 quotes of Democritus on MyQuotes

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.

All things happen by virtue of necessity.

Beautiful objects are wrought by study through effort, but ugly things are reaped automatically without toil.

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.

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.

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

Education is an ornament for the prosperous, a refuge for the unfortunate.

Envy creates the beginning of strife.

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

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

Fortune provides a man's table with luxuries, virtue with only a frugal meal.

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

Hope of ill gain is the beginning of loss.

I am the most travelled of all my contemporaries; I have extended my field of enquiry wider than anybody else, I have seen more countries and climes, and have heard more speeches of learned men. No one has surpassed me in the composition of lines, according to demonstration, not even the Egyptian knotters of ropes, or geometers.

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

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

If you would know contentment, let your deeds be few.

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

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

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

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

Life unexamined, is not worth living.

Magnanimity consists in enduring tactlessness with mildness.

Man is a universe in little [Microcosm].

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

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

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.

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

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

Moderation multiplies pleasures, and increases pleasure.

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.

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

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

Nothing exists but atoms and the void.

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

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.

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.

Our sins are more easily remembered than our good deeds.

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.

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

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

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

Reason is often a more powerful persuader than gold.

Sexual intercourse is a slight attack of apoplexy.

Soul and intellect are just the same things.

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

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

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.

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

The laws would not prevent each man from living according to his inclination, unless individuals harmed each other; for envy creates the beginning of strife.