The 70 best phrases of Greek Philosophers

Ancient Greece was a fruitful period in all imaginable arts and scientific disciplines. Athenian times of splendor on a political level, marked a before and after in the development of Western civilization.

At this time, countless thinkers arose in different sciences who, thanks to their efforts, generated not inconsiderable cultural advances.

• Related article: "The 75 best philosophical phrases pronounced by the best thinkers"

Greek Philosophers Phrases and Famous Quotes

To review all this knowledge that Ancient Greece left us, in this article we are going to collect a large number of famous quotes and phrases from Greek Philosophers that left an incomparable legacy.

Of course there are many more reflections that have had to be left out of this selection, but if Do you consider that there is a phrase that should be in the list, please add it in the section of comments.

1. The advice is to get married: if you find a good wife you will be happy, if not, you will become a philosopher. (Socrates)

For Socrates, there was little other choice.

2. Don't let the grass grow in the way of friendship. (Socrates)

A true friendship must be nurtured frequently.

3. Kings or rulers are not those who carry a scepter, but those who know how to command. (Socrates)

Authority emanates from power, and not the other way around.

4. Fear the love of the woman more than the hatred of the man. (Socrates)

Nothing is more stark than a woman in love.

5. There is no pain like a long life. (Sophocles)

Boredom and boredom are real poisons.

6. Who is born mortal, walks towards death. (Ephesus)

Inexcusably, it is so.

7. No one is happy for their entire life. (Euripides)

We all have ups and downs, it is fully usual.

8. It is worse to commit an injustice than to suffer it because whoever commits it becomes unjust and whoever suffers it does not. (Socrates)

One of those philosophical phrases that get you thinking.

9. Human science is more about destroying errors than discovering truths. (Socrates)

On the path of science.

10. The best sauce is hunger. (Socrates)

When there is a need, anything that meets it is welcome.

11. Good and beautiful men are conquered with kindness. (Socrates)

A seduction tip from the great Socrates.

12. Only the knowledge that comes from within is true knowledge. (Socrates)

Nothing that is not processed by our conscious mind has the attribute of truth.

13. Who will capitulate sooner: the one who needs the difficult things or the one who uses what he may well find? (Socrates)

A phrase that praises austerity.

14. The greatest declaration of love is the one that is not made; The man that feels a lot, speaks little. (Plato)

Don't let your words cloud reality.

15. Happiness is in freedom, and freedom in courage. (Pericles)

This is how this Greek philosopher defines happiness.

16. Music is to the soul what gymnastics is to the body. (Plato)

A most successful parallel.

17. The human body is the carriage; the self, the man who drives it; thought are the reins, and feelings are the horses. (Plato)

Defining every facet of the human being.

18. Friends often become thieves of our time. (Plato)

You trust them with your time, and this can be a gross mistake.

19. Looking for the good of our fellow find ours. (Plato)

In the common good there is also the personal good.

20. There is no man so cowardly whom love does not make brave and transform into a hero. (Plato)

Intoxicated by love, we are capable of the impossible.

21. Listen, you will be wise. The beginning of wisdom is silence. (Pythagoras)

The Greek mathematician thus conceived of wisdom.

22. Poverty does not come from the diminution of wealth, but from the multiplication of desires. (Plato)

Having more needs makes us slaves of economic power.

23. Tyrants surround themselves with bad men because they like to be flattered and no high-spirited man will flatter them. (Aristotle)

Loyalty between bad men is mere interest.

24. The purpose of art is to embody the secret essence of things, not to copy their appearance. (Aristotle)

About art and its essence.

25. Everyone's friend is not a friend. (Aristotle)

If there are no criteria, there are no grounds for friendship.

26. The total truth is never reached, nor is one ever totally detached from it. (Aristotle)

We are in constant dialectic with truth and reason.

27. Two excesses must be avoided in the education of the youth; too harsh, and too sweet. (Plato)

In moderation is the key.

28. Love consists of feeling that the sacred being beats within the loved one. (Plato)

Great phrase about love.

29. What I don't know, I don't think I know either. (Plato)

Knowledge must always be in question.

30. Every tear teaches mortals truth. (Plato)

Sadness is a friend of the truth.

31. There are men who work as if they were going to live forever. (Democritus)

Remember that your time is not infinite.

32. The friend has to be like money, that before needing it, he knows the value that he has. (Socrates)

A great metaphor to apply to life and relationships.

33. The wise is the goal of the human soul and, as it advances in its knowledge, it in turn moves away the horizon of the unknown. (Heraclitus)

A long-standing philosophical phrase.

34. Descend into the depths of yourself, and see your good soul. Happiness is made only by oneself with good behavior. (Socrates)

Ethics go hand in hand with a clear conscience.

35. Young people today seem to have no respect for the past and no hope for the future. (Hippocrates)

A phrase that could be applied to the present time.

36. I just know that I don't know anything. (Socrates)

One of those phrases of Greek philosophers that have been around the world.

37. The beauty of the woman is illuminated by a light that leads us and invites us to contemplate the soul that such body inhabits, and if the woman is as beautiful as this, it is impossible not to love her. (Socrates)

A praise to the female figure.

38. The dead are the only ones who see the end of the war. (Plato)

To reflect on war conflicts and their consequences.

39. Beauty is the splendor of truth. (Plato)

For Plato, beauty was inseparable from reason.

40. Intelligence consists not only of knowledge, but also of the ability to apply knowledge in practice. (Aristotle)

Intelligence without practical prowess would be an oxymoron.

41. Hope is the dream of the waking man. (Aristotle)

Great phrase of those that leave their mark.

42. What is acquired with a lot of work, is loved the more. (Aristotle)

Consistency brings very tasty fruits.

43. If you cheat on me once, it's your fault; if you fool me two, it's mine. (Anaxagoras)

One of those famous quotes to apply in our relationships.

44. Think as wise men think, but speak as simple people speak. (Aristotle)

There is no use pretending wisdom with abstruse language.

45. True happiness consists in doing good. (Aristotle)

Ethics and kindness are not different things.

46. The lonely man is a beast or a god. (Aristotle)

There is no middle ground.

47. At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet. (Plato)

Sensitivity softens us all.

48. By learning to die, you learn to live better. (Plato)

Being aware of death we can take advantage of life.

49. The best grave is the simplest. (Plato)

No luxury accompanies you after death.

50. Just as the eyes are trained for astronomy, the ears are trained to perceive the movements of harmony. (Plato)

Reflection on human perception.

51. The liar's punishment is not to be believed, even when telling the truth. (Aristotle)

From so much lying, no one believes your truths anymore.

52. It is an indisputable principle that to know how to command well, it is necessary to know how to obey. (Aristotle)

There is no hierarchy without understanding the chain of command.

53. Fear is a suffering that produces the expectation of evil. (Aristotle)

A philosophical description of fear.

54. Teaching is not a vital function, because they do not have an end in itself; the vital function is to learn. (Aristotle)

Pedagogy and its many benefits.

55. If they praise me so much, it will be for praising themselves, because by praising me they imply that they understand me. (Aristotle)

A somewhat narcissistic phrase.

56. Slowly, but he quickly executes your decisions. (Socrates)

Control and agility in decision making.

57. The ignorant says, the wise doubts and reflects. (Aristotle)

One of those phrases of Greek philosophers that have survived to this day.

58. The wise man does not say everything he thinks, but he always thinks everything he says. (Aristotle)

Reflection and action, in that order.

59. I consider the one who conquers his desires more courageous than the one who conquers his enemies, since the hardest victory is the victory over oneself. (Aristotle)

Great thought of Aristotle to get ahead with strength.

60. Some believe that to be friends it is enough to love, as if to be healthy it is enough to wish for health. (Aristotle)

There are actions that speak louder than feelings.

61. We have two ears and a single mouth, precisely to hear more and speak less (Zenón de Citio)

A great reflection that few people apply.

62. Remember that the secret of happiness is in freedom, I secret of freedom, courage. (Thucydides)

Another phrase that marks the path of happiness.

63. Only what virtue achieves is lasting. (Sophocles)

If it is not achieved with effort, nothing is worth it.

64. The sweetest life consists in knowing nothing. (Sophocles)

Ignorance can bring happiness.

65. The man who is not satisfied with little is satisfied with nothing. (Epicurus of Samos)

Austerity is not everyone's fiefdom.

66. Misfortune tests friends and discovers enemies. (Epithet)

When everything is going well it is usual for friends to hang around. Another song is when you fail.

67. There is only happiness where there is virtue and serious effort, because life is not a game. (Aristotle)

A calm and prudent view on existence.

68. There is only one good: knowledge. There is only one evil, ignorance. (Socrates)

A very clear way of classifying reality.

69. True wisdom is in acknowledging your own ignorance. (Socrates)

Phrase analogous to his famous "I just know that I don't know anything."

70. The virtuous are content to dream what the sinner achieves in life. (Plato)

The sinful life is more fun than that of an incorruptible being.