Democritus

Virtue isn't not wronging others but not wishing to wrong others.

— Democritus

“No one regards the things before his feet, But views with care the regions of the sky.”

— Democritus

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

— Democritus

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

— Democritus

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

— Democritus

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

— Democritus

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

— Democritus

Our sins are more easily remembered than our good deeds.

— Democritus

The man who is fortunate in his choice of son-in-law gains a son; the man unfortunate in his choice loses his daughter…

— Democritus

“By convention sweet and by convention bitter, by convention hot, by convention cold, by convention color; but in reality atoms and void.”

— Democritus

We know nothing accurately in reality, but [only] as it changes according to the bodily condition, and the constitution of those things…

— Democritus

Coition is a slight attack of apoplexy. For man gushes forth from man, and is separated by being torn apart with a…

— Democritus

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

— Democritus

These differences, they say, are three: shape, arrangement, and position; because they hold that what is differs only in contour, inter-contact, inclination.

— Democritus

Whatever a poet writes with enthusiasm and a divine inspiration is very fine. Earliest reference to the madness or divine inspiration of…

— Democritus

We think there is color, we think there is sweet, we think there is bitter, but in reality there are atoms and…

— Democritus

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

— Democritus

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

— Democritus

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

— Democritus

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

— Democritus

Moderation multiplies pleasures, and increases pleasure.

— Democritus

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

— Democritus

To a wise and good man the whole earth is his fatherland.

— Democritus

To a wise man, the whole earth is open; for the native land of a good soul is the whole earth.

— Democritus

“In verità nulla sappiamo, ché la verità è nell’abisso.”

— Democritus

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

— Democritus