Diogenes Laërtius quotes

Xenophanes speaks thus:-And no man knows distinctly anything,And no man ever will. (Diogenes Laërtius)
Once when Bion was at sea in the company of some wicked men, he fell into the hands of pirates; and when the rest said, "We are undone if we are known,"-"But I," said he, "am undone if we are not known. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
Apollodorus says, "If any one were to take away from the books of Chrysippus all the passages which he quotes from other authors, his paper would be left empty. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
When asked what learning was the most necessary, he said, “Not to unlearn what you have learned!”. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
He used to say that it was better to have one friend of great value than many friends who were good for nothing. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
Ignorance plays the chief part among men, and the multitude of words. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
Socrates said, "Those who want fewest things are nearest to the gods. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
There is a written and an unwritten law. The one by which we regulate our constitutions in our cities is the written law; that which arises from customs is the unwritten law. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
Bury me on my face," said Diogenes; and when he was asked why, he replied, "Because in a little while everything will be turned upside down. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
Time is the image of eternity. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
Bias used to say that men ought to calculate life both as if they were fated to live a long and a short time, and that they ought to love one another as if at a future time they would come to hate one another; for that most men were bad. (Diogenes Laërtius)
Antisthenes used to say that envious people were devoured by their own disposition, just as iron is by rust. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
As some say, Solon was the author of the apophthegm, "Nothing in excess. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
Fortune is unstable, while our will is free. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
Bion used to say that the way to the shades below was easy; he could go there with his eyes shut. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
Diogenes said once to a person who was showing him a dial, "It is a very useful thing to save a man from being too late for supper. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
One of the sophisms of Chrysippus was, "If you have not lost a thing, you have it. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
Plato was continually saying to Xenocrates, "Sacrifice to the Graces. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
There are many marvellous stories told of Pherecydes. For it is said that he was walking along the seashore at Samos, and that seeing a ship sailing by with a fair wind, he said that it would soon sink; and presently it sank before his eyes. At another time he was drinking some water which had been drawn up out of a well, and he foretold that within three days there would be an earthquake; and there was one. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
If appearances are deceitful, then they do not deserve any confidence when they assert what appears to them to be true. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
Pittacus said that half was more than the whole. (Diogenes Laërtius)
Pythagoras used to say that he had received as a gift from Mercury the perpetual transmigration of his soul, so that it was constantly transmigrating and passing into all sorts of plants or animals. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
Plato affirmed that the soul was immortal and clothed in many bodies successively. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
The mountains too, at a distance, appear airy masses and smooth, but seen near at hand they are rough. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius
But Chrysippus, Posidonius, Zeno, and Boëthus say, that all things are produced by fate. And fate is a connected cause of existing things, or the reason according to which the world is regulated. View quote
Diogenes Laërtius