Ancient Greek Quotes

• Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners.

  Vladimir Lenin

  Freedom, Tyrants, Slave Owners

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• The ancient Greek definition of happiness was the full use of your powers along lines of excellence.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Life, Greek

  Kennedy, John F. (1964). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963”, p.380, Best Books on

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• Well, love is insanity. The ancient Greeks knew that. It is the taking over of a rational and lucid mind by delusion and self-destruction. You lose yourself, you have no power over yourself, you can't even think straight.

  Marilyn French

  Love, Thinking, Self

  Marilyn French (2011). “The Women's Room”, p.347, Simon and Schuster

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• Few of the great works of ancient Greek literature are easy reading.

  Gilbert Murray

  Reading, Greek, Literature

  Aristotle, Gilbert Murray (1920). “On the Art of Poetry”, p.3, Oxford University Press on Demand

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• Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.

  Plato

  Funny, Life, Sarcastic

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• It is more important to know where you are going than to get there quickly. Do not mistake activity for achievement. Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs, therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity or undue depression in adversity.

  Isocrates

  Depression, Wisdom, Mistake

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• I sometimes wonder if the hand is not more sensitive to the beauties of sculpture than the eye. I should think the wonderful rhythmical flow of lines and curves could be more subtly felt than seen. Be this as it may, I know that I can feel the heart-throbs of the ancient Greeks in their marble gods and goddesses.

  Helen Keller

  God, Heart, Eye

  Helen Keller (2012). “The Story of My Life”, p.81, Courier Corporation

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• Experts in ancient Greek culture say that people back then didn't see their thoughts as belonging to them. When ancient Greeks had a thought, it occurred to them as a god or goddess giving an order. Apollo was telling them to be brave. Athena was telling them to fall in love. Now people hear a commercial for sour cream potato chips and rush out to buy, but now they call this free will. At least the ancient Greeks were being honest.

  Chuck Palahniuk

  Falling In Love, Order, People

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• Strangers used to gather together at the cinema and sit together in the dark, like Ancient Greeks participating in the mysteries, dreaming the same dream in unison.

  Angela Carter

  Dream, Dark, Greek

  Angela Carter (1998). “Shaking a Leg: Collected Writings”, Penguin Group USA

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  There is nothing permanent except change.

  Heraclitus

  Inspirational, Change, Success

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• The question of the composition of perceptible objects is one which already occupied the mind of the ancient Greeks.

  Johannes Stark

  Greek, Mind, Ancient

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• The ancient Greek "oral poets" all had this anxiety about the deficiencies of their memories and always began poems by praying to the muse to help them remember.

  David Antin

  Memories, Anxiety, Greek

  "A Conversation with David Antin". Book by David Antin, Charles Bernstein, 2002.

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• The ancient Greeks noticed that a man with arms and legs extended described a circle, with his navel as the center.

  Stephen Gardiner

  Men, Swag, Circles

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• When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.

  Epictetus

  Forgiveness, Spiritual, Wisdom

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• Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.

  Hypatia

  Inspirational, Wisdom, Philosophy

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• That which is used - develops. That which is not used wastes away.

  Hippocrates

  Life, Use It Or Lose It, Waste

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• Of all the small nations of this earth, perhaps only the ancient Greeks surpass the Scots in their contribution to mankind.

  Winston Churchill

  Scotland, Greek, Earth

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• No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

  Aesop

  Inspirational, Life, Inspiring

  Aesop (1963). “Aesop's fables”, Cliffs Notes

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• The laws of nature are but the mathematical thoughts of God.

  Euclid

  God, Nature, Math

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  One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives.

  Euripides

  Friendship, Positive, Family

  Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides (1959). “Euripides”

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• Only the dead have seen the end of war.

  Plato

  Death, Memorial Day, Plato

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• I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.

  Plutarch

  Friendship, Change, Philosophy

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  What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.

  Pericles

  Life, Education, Appreciation

  "Flicker to Flame: Living with Purpose, Meaning, and Happiness". Book by Jeffrey Thompson Parker, October 2006.

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• Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.

  Aristotle

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

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• Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety.

  Plato

  Life, Death, Wisdom

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