Life and Existence

There's no chance of their having a conscious glimpse of the truth as long as they refuse to disturb the things they take for granted and remain incapable of explaining them. For if your starting point is unknown, and your end-point and intermediate stages are woven together out of unknown material, there may be coherence, but knowledge is completely out of the question.

There is nothing I like better than conversing with aged men. For I regard them as travelers who have gone a journey which I too may have to go, and of whom I ought to inquire whether the way is smooth and easy or rugged and difficult. Is life harder toward the end, or what report do you give it?

There is nothing I like better than conversing with aged men. For I regard them as travelers who have gone a journey which I too may have to go, and of whom I ought to inquire whether the way is smooth and easy or rugged and difficult. Is life harder toward the end, or what report do you give it?

There are few people so stubborn in their atheism who when danger is pressing in will not acknowledge the divine power.

The truth is, O men of Athens, that God only is wise; and by his answer he intends to show that the wisdom of men is worth little or nothing.

The whole life of the philosopher is a preparation for death.

The purpose of education is to give to the body and to the soul all the beauty and all the perfection of which they are capable.

The soul takes flight to the world that is invisible but there arriving she is sure of bliss and forever dwells in paradise.

The point which I should first wish to understand is whether the pious or holy is beloved by the gods because it is holy, or holy because it is beloved of the gods.

The tools that would teach men their own use would be beyond price.

The more the pleasures of the body fade away, the greater to me is the pleasure and charm of conversation.

The philosopher whose dealings are with divine order himself acquires the characteristics of order and divinity.

The man deserved his fate, deny it who can; yes, but the fate did not deserve the man.

The love, more especially, which is concerned with the good, and which is perfected in company with temperance and justice, whether among gods or men, has the greatest power, and is the source of all our happiness and harmony, and makes us friends with the gods who are above us, and with one another.

The key is not to live but to live well.

The desire for sex turns the penis into a disobedient thing with a mind of its own. Like an animal that will not listen ..it tries to take complete control.

Take a look around, then, and see that none of the uninitiated are listening. Now by the uninitiated I mean the people who believe in nothing but what they can grasp in their hands, and who will not allow that action or generation or anything invisible can have real existence.

The body is the tomb of the soul

Physical excellence does not of itself produce a good mind and character: on the other hand, excellence of mind and character will make the best of the physique it is given.

Only a philosopher's mind grows wings, since its memory always keeps it as close as possible to those realities by being close to which the gods are divine. A man who uses reminders of these things correctly is always at the highest, most perfect level of initiation, and he is the only one who is perfect as perfect can be. He stands outside human concerns and draws close to the divine; ordinary people think he is disturbed and rebuke him for this, unaware that he is possessed by god.

Old age has a great sense of calm and freedom. When the passions have relaxed their hold and have escaped, not from one master, but from many.

Our love for our children springs from the soul's greatest yearning for immortality.

Not only is the old man twice a child, but also the man who is drunk.

No one ever dies an atheist.