55+ Best Greek Quotes from The Ancient Greek Philosophers

Ancient Greek Quotes

If you are looking for powerful words and thought-provoking wisdom from Greek Philosophers, we have rounded up an epic collection of Greek quotes to inspire you.

• “...like that star of the waning summer who beyond all stars rises bathed in the ocean stream to glitter in brilliance.”― Homer, The Iliad

• “TEIRESIAS: Alas, how terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the man that's wise! This I knew well but had forgotten it, else I would not have come here.” ― Sophocles, The Complete Greek Tragedies

• “TEIRESIAS: You have your eyes but see not where you are in sin, nor where you live, nor whom you live with. Do you know who your parents are? Unknowing you are enemy to kith and kin in death, beneath the earth, and in this life.”― Sophocles, The Complete Greek Tragedies

• “better not bring up a lion inside your city, But if you must, then humor all his moods.”― Aristophanes, The Frogs

• “If you wish to make Pythocles wealthy, don't give him more money; rather, reduce his desires.”― Epicurus

• "There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot." -Plato

• "Quality is not an act, it is a habit." -Aristotle

• "Control thy passions lest they take vengeance on thee."- Epictetus

• "No man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nature and education."-Plato

• "Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies."-Aristotle 

• "People are like dirt. They can either nourish you and help you grow as a person or they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die."- Plato 

• "Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men."- Plato 

• "The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best."- Epictetus 

• "Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved."- Aristotle 

• "Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies."- Aristotle 

• "Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety."- Plato 

• "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."-Aristotle

• "Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."-Plato Q

• "He is a drunkard who takes more than three glasses though he is not drunk."-Epictetus

Greek Philosopher Quotes

The Great Greek philosophers might live in different periods, their Greek quotes are still acceptable in today's world. Here are some Greek quotes for your daily motivation.

• "The wrongdoer is more unfortunate than the man wronged."- Democritus 

• "Men should strive to think much and know little."- Democritus 

• "By desiring little, a poor man makes himself rich."- Democritus 

• "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."- Democritus 

• "Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul."-Democritus 

• "I would rather discover a single causal connection than win the throne of Persia."- Democritus 

• "Good means merely not to do wrong, but rather not to desire to do wrong."- Democritus 

• "What I like to drink most is a wine that belongs to others."- Diogenes 

• "As a matter of self-preservation, a man needs good friends or ardent enemies, for the former instruct him and the latter take him to the task."-Diogenes 

• "I threw my cup away when I saw a child drinking from his hands at the trough."-Diogenes 

• "I do not know whether there are gods, but there ought to be."-Diogenes 

• "There is only a finger's difference between a wise man and a fool."- Sinope 

• "Modesty is the color of virtue."-Sinope 

• "The sun is new each day."- Heraclitus 

• "No man is hurt but by himself"- Sinope 

• "Quarrels often arise in marriages when the bridal gifts are excessive."- Antisthenes

• "Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy."- Plato 

• "Virtue is relative to the actions and ages of each of us in all that we do."- Plato 

• "In words are seen the state of mind and character and disposition of the speaker."- Plutarch 

• "The wildest colts make the best horses."-Plutarch 

• "I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean."- Socrates 

• "The whole is more than the sum of its parts."- Aristotle

Greek Life Quotes

Greek Quotes - Photo by jimmy teoh from Pexels

Learn some insightful Greek quotes from a famous Greek Philosopher below. From these Greek quotes, you can increase your understanding of Greek culture with the following Greek quotes.

• “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle

• “The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” – Socrates

• “The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.” – Diogenes

• “Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.” – Churchill 

• “Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.” – Socrates

• “You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.” – Aristotle

• “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” – Heraclitus

• “For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories.” – Plato

• “All the earth is mine, and I have a right to go all over it and through it.” – Apollonius of Tyana

•  “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” – Aristotle

• “When you are offended at any man’s fault, turn to yourself and study your failings. Then you will forget your anger.” – Epictetus

• “I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.” – Plutarch

•  “Those who intend on becoming great should love neither themselves nor their things, but only what is just, whether it happens to be done by themselves or others.” – Plato

• “Fate is the endless chain of causation, whereby things are; the reason or formula by which the world goes on.” – Citium Zeno

• “Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered.” – Aristotle

• “Good means merely not to do wrong, but rather not to desire to do wrong.” – Democritus

Greek Philosophy Quotes

Here are the best Greek quotes about philosophy from the Ancient Greek philosopher. Hopefully, these Greek quotes can be your daily motivation.

• “There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot.” – Plato

• “Much learning does not teach understanding.” – Heraclitus

•  “The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.” – Epictetus

• “There is the heat of Love, the pulsing rush of Longing, the lover’s whisper, irresistible – magic to make the sanest man go mad.” ― Homer, The Iliad

• “Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.” –  Aristotle

• “If I had followed the multitude, I should not have studied philosophy.” – Chrysippus

• “Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is just opinion.”- Democritus

• “The proper bulk is better than the big bulk.”- Democritus

• “Difficulties are things that show a person what they are.” – Epictetus

• “True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.” – Socrates

• “One thing I know, that I know nothing. This is the source of my wisdom.”- Socrates

• “False words are not only evil themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.”- Socrates

• “An unexamined life is not worth living.”- Socrates

• “Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.”- Socrates