Quotes and Stories from Greek Philosophers in Ancient Greece

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According to the Ancients Greeks, wisdom is the excellent knowledge of something. The word philosopher was first used in the 6th century B. C. to declare the man who had zeal for learning. All this need for the analysis of everyday life by philosophers helped to formulate the philosophical phrases.

Here are some of the most known Greek phrases:

Diogenes

  • One day, the philosopher Diogenes was asking for charity from a statue. When his students saw him and asked him why he did this, he replied: “I practice not to be disappointed with people’s anesthesia”.
  • A bald person was fooling Diogenes. The philosopher told him:” I do not repay you your bad words but I’d like to say a “well done” to your hairs” because they were exempt of a bad head”.

Aristeides

  • A father asked from Aristippus (student of Socrates) to become teacher for his son. The philosopher demanded a payday of 500 drachmas. The father considered excessive the amount and said that with so much money he could buy an animal. Then, Aristippus answered: “Buy it and then you will have two animals in your house”.
  • Aristeides and Themistocles were political opponents. Once, they were sent as ambassadors in another city- state. The philosopher as they were walking, told him: “Do you want to leave our hatred on the borders of our homeland? And if you judge it’s necessary, we will continue when we come back”.

Socrates

  • Someone asked Socrates if he is an Athenian. “I’m not neither Athenian nor a Greek. I am a citizen of the World”, he said.
  • A rich citizen scoffed at Socrates for his inconspicuous origin. The philosopher gave him the following answer: “If I have to be ashamed of my ancestors, then your glorious ancestors must feel ashamed for you, their unworthy descendant”.
  • “Be as you wish to seem”.

Antisthenes

  • Antisthenes advised his fellow citizens to vote for the donkeys to be called horses. When they told him that this was totally unnatural and unreasonable, he observed: “don’t the generals be proclaimed with your vote without having any education?”

Aristotle

  • Aristotle learned from someone that some people talked badly about him when he’s not present. The philosopher answered: “I don’t care at all. When I’m absent, I also accept to whip me”.
  • Once they asked Aristotle: “what those who are lying are winning” and the philosopher answered: “not to believe them even if they say the truth”.
  • “Love is composed of single soul inhabiting two bodies”.
  • “You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor”.
  • “Happiness depends upon to ourselves”.

Plato

  • “At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet”.
  • “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors”.

King Philip of Macedonia

  • The king’s advisers were demanding from him to banish a man who badmouthed him. Philip answered them: “You want me to banish him and send him to blame me somewhere else?”
  • Once, Philip was arguing with his wife. At that moment, the envoy from Corinth came in and Philip asked him about the peace between the Greeks. The Corinthian answered him: “You’re very interested in the unity of the Greeks when I see that you don’t have unity inside your home”. 
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