This page features a selection of the best quotes by Presocratic philosophers. All of these quotes are real and references are given after each quote.
Here are the best quotes by Presocratic philosophers in no particular order:
Thales:
All things are from water and all things are resolved into water.
– as quoted by Aetius in H. Diels, Doxographi Graeci
Xenophanes:
No man knows, or ever will know, the truth about the gods and about everything I speak of: for even if one chanced to say the complete truth, nevertheless one would not know it.
– as quoted in Kirk, Raven, & Schofield, The Pre-Socratic Philosophers
But if cattle and horses or lions had hands, or were able to draw with their hands and do the works that men can do, horses would draw the forms of the gods like horses, and cattle like cattle, and they would make their bodies such as they each had themselves.
– as quoted in Kirk, Raven, & Schofield, The Pre-Socratic Philosophers
Heraclitus:
The world order did none of gods or men make, but it always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire, kindling in measures and going out in measures.
– as quoted in Kirk, Raven, & Schofield, The Pre-Socratic Philosophers
The way up and the way down are one and the same.
– as quoted in Kirk, Raven, & Schofield, The Pre-Socratic Philosophers
Everything flows and nothing stays.
– as quoted in Plato, Cratylus, 402A
Anaxagoras:
The Greeks are wrong to recognize coming into being and perishing; for nothing comes into being nor perishes, but is rather compounded or dissolved from things that are. So they would be right to call coming into being composition and perishing dissolution.
– as quoted in Simplicius, Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics
Protagoras:
Man is the measure of all things.
– as quoted in Plato, Theaetetus, 152A
Democritus:
The first principles of the universe are atoms and empty space. Everything else is merely thought to exist. The worlds are unlimited. They come into being and perish. Nothing can come into being from that which is not nor pass away into that which is not. Further, the atoms are unlimited in size and number, and they are borne along in the whole universe in a vortex, and thereby generate all composite things— fire, water, air, earth. For even these are conglomerations of given atoms. And it is because of their solidarity that these atoms are impassive and unalterable. The sun and the moon have been composed of such smooth and spherical masses [i.e. atoms], and so also the soul, which is identical with reason.
– as quoted in Diogenes Laertius, Democritus, IX, 44
By convention are sweet and bitter, hot and cold, by convention is colour; in truth are atoms and the void.
– as quoted in Kirk, Raven, & Schofield, The Pre-Socratic Philosophers
If you want to learn more about the Presocratics, check out the following pages:
- The Best Books on Presocratic Philosophy
- Presocratic Philosophy: A collection of articles, videos, and podcasts
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A History of Western Philosophy in 500 Essential Quotations – Lennox Johnson
Publisher’s Description: A History of Western Philosophy in 500 Essential Quotations is a collection of the greatest thoughts from history’s greatest thinkers. Featuring classic quotations by Aristotle, Epicurus, David Hume, Friedrich Nietzsche, Bertrand Russell, Michel Foucault, and many more, A History of Western Philosophy in 500 Essential Quotations is ideal for anyone looking to quickly understand the fundamental ideas that have shaped the modern world.