Tao Te Ching
Democritus Dēmókritos
460 – 370 BCE
Father of modern science and greatest of ancient philosophers
The "father of modern science,” famed for his atomic theory of the universe, mathematics and geometry pioneer, called by Francis Bacon “the greatest of ancient philosophers;” the famously cheerful Democritus was born into a very rich family but spent almost all his money becoming in his era the most widely traveled going as far as Ethiopia, Persia, and India where he is said to have been exposed to and influenced by Buddhism. Returning without wealth, he devoted himself to a simple life of philosophy, science, music and art creating an influence still with us today.
Lineages
Apostles of Doubt Greek Scientists Skeptic
Eras
Western
Egyptian Civilization (3150 – 305 BCE)Greek Civilization (480 – 146 BCE)
The Axial Age, “The Great Leap of Being” (800 – 200 BCE)
Unlisted Sources
Quotes by Democritus (11 quotes)
“Small appetite makes poverty equivalent to wealth.”
Chapters:
3. Weak Wishes, Strong Bones
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“Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.”
Chapters:
21. Following Empty Heart
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“By desiring little, a poor man makes himself rich.”
Chapters:
46. Enough
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“Good actions should be done not from hope of reward but for their own sake.”
Chapters:
51. Mysterious Goodness
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“Verily, we know nothing. Truth is buried deep.”
Chapters:
67. Three Treasures
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“If thou sustain injustice, console thyself; the true unhappiness is in doing it”
Chapters:
69. No Enemy
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“To a wise and good man the whole earth is his fatherland.”
Chapters:
71. Sick of Sickness
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“Many much-learned men have no intelligence.”
Chapters:
81. Journey Without Goal
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“The ancients heard thunder, saw lightning, conjunctions of the stars, eclipses of the Sun and Moon, became afraid, and began believing in gods to explain what they couldn’t understand.”
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“Accept nothing pleasant unless it is beneficial.”
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“One man means as much to me as a multitude, and a multitude only as much as one man.”
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Quotes about Democritus (2 quotes)
“Picture Democritus, the Laughing Philosopher; would he not be perilous company for the desiccated scholastics who have made the disputes about the reality of the external world take the place of medieval discourses on the number of angels that could sit on the point of a pin?”
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“For if anyone follows Democritus' theory, saying that the atoms have no free motion, since they collide with one another, from which it appears that the motion of everything is necessitated, we shall say to him 'Do you not know, whoever you are, that the atoms have a free motion, which Democritus did not discover, but Epicurus revealed, namely the motion of the swerve, as he shows from the phenomena?”
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