Democritus Quotes

The man enslaved to wealth can never be honest.

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

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

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

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

We know nothing in reality; for truth lies in an abyss.

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

Life unexamined, is not worth living.

The sweetest things become the most bitter by excess.

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

Sexual intercourse is a slight attack of apoplexy.

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.

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

All things happen by virtue of necessity.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Hope of ill gain is the beginning of loss.

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

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