Nature and the Universe
The One is the beginning of everything.
—Philolaus (Greek philosopher)
This essential nature is everlasting and ageless.
—Thales (ca. 640-546 B.C. Greek philosopher)
God holds the beginning and end, and the middle of all existing things.
—Orpheus (Greek philosopher)
If any there be, it is visible to the gods, not visible to mortals.
—Epimenides (Greek philosopher)
As our soul, being air, holds us together, so do breath and air surround the whole universe.
—Anaximenes (Greek philosopher)
All things that come into being and grow are earth and water.
—Xenophanes (570-480 B.C. Greek philosopher)
The body is earth, but the mind is fire.
—Epicharmus (Greek philosopher)
All things are numbers.
—Pythagoras (ca. 572-497 B.C. Greek philosopher and mathematician)
How can hair come from not-hair, and flesh from not-flesh?
—Anaxagoras (ca. 500-428 B.C. Greek philosopher)
No thing comes into being or passes away, but it is mixed together or separated from existing things.
—Anaxagoras (ca. 500-428 B.C. Greek philosopher)
It is the sun that endows the moon with its brilliance.
—Anaxagoras (ca. 500-428 B.C. Greek philosopher)
You cannot step twice into the same river, for fresh waters are ever flowing in upon you.
—Heraclitus (ca. 535-475 B.C. Greek philosopher)
Man is a universe in little.
—Democritus (ca. 460-370 B.C. Greek philosopher)
Man is the measure of all things, of things that are that they are, and of things that are not that they are not.
—Protagoras (ca. 490-420 B.C. Greek philosopher)
The Law of the Universe is as here explained; but men are always incapable of understanding it.
—Heraclitus (ca. 535-475 B.C. Greek philosopher)