Democritus Men Quotations

The wrongdoer is more unfortunate than the man wronged.

Men should strive to think much and know little.

You can tell the man who rings true from the man who rings false, not by his deeds alone, but also his desires.

The brave man is not only he who overcomes the enemy, but he who is stronger than pleasures. Some men are masters of cities, but are enslaved to women.

Men find happiness neither by means of the body nor through possessions, but through uprightness and wisdom.

More men have become great through practice than by nature.

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

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

Men have fashioned an image of Chance as an excuse for their own stupidity. For Chance rarely conflicts with intelligence, and most things in life can be set in order by an intelligent sharpsightedness.

Immoderate desire is the mark of a child, not a man.

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

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

There are some men who are masters of cities but slaves to women.

The wise man’s home is the universe.

Many much-learned men have no intelligence.

I am the most travelled of all my contemporaries; I have extended my field of enquiry wider than anybody else, I have seen more countries and climes, and have heard more speeches of learned men. No one has surpassed me in the composition of lines, according to demonstration, not even the Egyptian knotters of ropes, or geometers.

The whole Earth is at the hand of the wise man, since the fatherland of an elevated soul is the Universe.

Do not trust all men, but trust men of worth; the former course is silly, the latter a mark of prudence.

One great difference between a wise man and a fool is, the former only wishes for what he may possibly obtain; the latter desires impossibilities.

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

The brave man is he who overcomes not only his enemies but his pleasures

Men will cease to be fools only when they cease to be men.

Man is a universe in little [ Microcosm ].

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

The laws would not prevent each man from living according to his inclination, unless individuals harmed each other; for envy creates the beginning of strife.

It is hard to fight against anger: to master it is the mark of a rational man.

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

By desiring little, a poor man makes himself rich.

Nature and education are somewhat similar. The latter transforms man, and in so doing creates a second nature.

The man enslaved to wealth can never be honest.

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

Men have made an idol of luck as an excuse for their own thoughtlessness.

My enemy is not the man who wrongs me, but the man who means to wrong me.

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.