Diogenes Laertius Quotes
Diogenes Laertius Quotes
Diogenes Laertius wrote the single most complete surviving account of ancient Greek philosophy. He worked as a historian and biographer sometime in the third century AD. Most of the original texts he drew on are now lost. His compilation is often the closest thing we have to a primary source for what these philosophers said and believed.
His work, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, runs to ten books. It covers thinkers from the earliest Greek schools through the Hellenistic period, ending with Epicurus. Book seven is devoted entirely to the Stoics, opening with Zeno of Citium, the school’s founder.
“To the query, “What is a friend?” his reply was, “A single soul dwelling in two bodies.”
Aristotle, according to Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 5, Chapter 1. p.20
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“The reason why we have two ears and only one mouth is that we may listen the more and talk the less.”
Zeno of Citium, Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 7. p.23
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“And virtue, he [Zeno] holds, is a harmonious disposition, choice-worthy for its own sake and not from hope or fear or any external motive. Moreover, it is in virtue that happiness consists; for virtue is the state of the mind which tends to make the whole of life harmonious.”
Chrysippus, Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, book 7. p.89
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“Virtue is the same for women as for men.”
Antisthenes, Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, book 7. p.12
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“By pleasure we mean the absence of pain in the boy and of trouble in the soul.”
Epicurus, Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 10. p.657
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“It is sober reasoning, searching out the ground of every choice and avoidance, and banishing those beliefs through which the greatest tumults take possession of the soul.”
Epicurus, Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 10. p.657
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“Nor, again, will the wise man marry and rear a family.”
Epicurus, Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 10. p.645
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“Nor will he take part in politics.”
Epicurus, Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 10. p.645
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“The end may be defined as life in accordance with nature or, in other words, in accordance with our own human nature as well as that of the universe.”
Diogenes Laërtius, in Lives of Eminent Philosophers: ‘Zeno of Citium’, 7.87
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“This is why Zeno was the first (in his treatise On the Nature of Man) to designate as the end ‘life in agreement with nature’ (or living agreeably to nature), which is the same as a virtuous life, virtue being the goal towards which nature guides us.”
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 7, Zeno, 87
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“They say that there are three emotional states which are good, namely, joy, caution, and wishing.”
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 7, Zeno, 116
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“They say that there are three emotional states which are good, namely, joy, caution, and wishing. Joy, the counterpart of pleasure, is rational elation; caution, the counterpart of fear, rational avoidance; for though the wise man will never feel fear, he will yet use caution. And they make wishing the counterpart of desire (or craving), inasmuch as it is rational appetency.”
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 7, Zeno, 116
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“For if a man be possessed of virtue, he is at once able to discover and to put into practice what he ought to do. Now such rules of conduct comprise rules for choosing, enduring, staying, and distributing; so that if a man does some thing by intelligent choice, some things with fortitude, some things by way of just distribution, and some steadily, he is at once wise, courageous, just, and temperate.”
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 7, Zeno, 126
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“To wisdom are subordinate, good counsel and understanding.”
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 7, Zeno, 126
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“To courage [are subordinate], constancy and vigour.”
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 7, Zeno, 126
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“To justice are subordinate, equality and fair-mindedness.”
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 7, Zeno, 126
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“To temperance are subordinate, good discipline and orderliness.”
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 7, Zeno, 126
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“Freedom from precipitancy is a knowledge when to give or withhold the mind’s assent to impressions.”
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 7.46
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“They [Hecato and Zeno] hold the emotions to be judgments, as is stated by Chrysippus in his treatise on the Passions: avarice being a supposition that money is a good, while the case is similar with drunkenness and profligacy and all the other emotions.”
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 7, Zeno, 110
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“Nature in their view is an artistically working fire, going on its way to create: which is equivalent to a fiery, creative, or fashioning breath.”
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 7, Zeno, 186
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