Aristotle Quotes

"I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self."- Aristotle

Plato Quotes

"Only the dead have seen the end of the war."- Plato

Sophocles Quotes

"Death is not the greatest of evils; it is worse to want to die, and not be able to."-Sophocles

Sun Tzu Quotes

"He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them."- Sun Tzu

Timothy Leary Quotes

"In the information age, you don't teach philosophy as they did after feudalism. You perform it. If Aristotle were alive today, he'd have a talk show."-Timothy Leary

Chuang Tzu Quotes

"The torch of doubt and chaos is what the sage steers by."-Chuang Tzu

Henry David Thoreau Quotes

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things." -Henry David Thoreau, Walden, chapter 1 "Economy"

Michel de Montaigne Quotes

"Memory is the receptacle and case of science: and therefore mine being so treacherous, if I know little, I cannot much complain. I know, in general, the names of the arts, and of what they treat, but nothing more. I turn over books; I do not study them. What I retain I no longer recognise as another's; 'tis only what my judgment has made its advantage of, the discourses and imaginations in which it has been instructed: the author, place, words, and other circumstances, I immediately forget; and I am so excellent at forgetting, that I no less forget my own writings and compositions than the rest. I am very often quoted to myself, and am not aware of it. Whoever should inquire of me where I had the verses and examples, that I have here huddled together, would puzzle me to tell him, and yet I have not borrowed them but from famous and known authors, not contenting myself that they were rich, if I, moreover, had them not from rich and honourable hands, where there is a concurrence of authority with reason. It is no great wonder if my book run the same fortune that other books do, if my memory lose what I have written as well as what I have read, and what I give, as well as what I receive."-Michel de Montaigne

Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotes

"It is certain that memory contains not only philosophy, but all the arts and all that appertain to the use of life." (Memoria certe non modo Philosophiam sed omnis / vitae usum, omnesque artes, una maxime continet) -Marcus Tullius Cicero, Acad., ii. 7.

Edmund Burke Quotes

"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle." possible source for the famous quotation attributed to Burke: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." See also Plato's quotation in topic 'apathy' -Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Cause of Present Discontents, 1770

Socrates Quotes

"By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher."-Socrates (a philosopher)

"Death may be the greatest of all human blessings."-Socrates

"If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it."-Socrates

"Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of - for credit is like fire; when once you have kindled it you may easily preserve it, but if you once extinguish it, you will find it an arduous task to rekindle it again. The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear."-Socrates

"The shortest and surest way to live with honour in the world, is to be in reality what we would appear to be; and if we observe, we shall find, that all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice of them."-Socrates

"I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance."-Socrates, from Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers

"The unexamined life is not worth living."-Socrates, in Plato, Dialogues, Apology