Greek Wisdom Quotes

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The way we think about a problem determines its outcome. These ancient wisdom quotes have stood the test of time and can assist you in new ways of thinking about old and new problems.

Heraclitus:

• “Nothing endures but change.”  

• “Only through this tension of opposites can there emerge any order or harmony.”   

Sophocles:

• “Men of all judgement often ignores then good that lies within their hands, until they have lost it.”   

• “Ships are only hulls; high walls are nothing. When no life moves in the empty passageways.”    

                  Oedipus Rex

• “How dreadful knowledge; the truth can be. when there’s no help in truth.”  

• “The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves.”  

• “Grief teaches the steadiest minds to waver.”   

• “Reason is God’s crowning gift to man.” 

• “The ideal condition would be, I admit, that men should be right by instinct; But since we are all likely to go astray, the reasonable thing is to learn from those who can reach.” 

• “Wisdom outweighs any wealth.”

• “The good befriend themselves.”

• “Not to be born surpasses thought and speech. the second best is to have seen the light and then to go back quickly.” 

• “One word frees us of all the weight and paralyzes. That word is love.” 

Euripides:

• “Leave no stone unturned.”  

• “Those who God wishes to destroy; he first makes mad.” 

• “A coward turns away, but a brave man’s choice is danger.” 

• “Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.”   

• “A bad beginning makes a bad ending.’

• “Who so neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future.”  

Herodotus:

• “Force has no place when there is great skill.”  

• “Haste in every business brings failures.”   

Other Wisdom Philosophers:

• “In truth we know nothing, for truth lies in the depth.”  -  Democritus

• “Wait for that wisest of all counselors, time.”  Plutarch

• “Time is that wherein there is opportunity, and opportunity is that wherein there is no great time.”  Hippocrates