Democritus Quotes

When the panting and thirsting soul first drinks the delicious waters of truth, when the moral and intellectual tastes and desires first seize the fragrant fruits that flourish in the garden of knowledge, then does the child catch a glimpse and foretaste of heaven.

No doubt those who really founded modern science were usually those whose love of truth exceeded their love of power.

A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune and favour cannot satisfy him.

All that you may achieve or discover you will regard as a fragment of a larger pattern of the truth which from the separate approaches every true scholar is striving to descry.

Your aim will be knowledge and wisdom, not the reflected glamour of fame.

Something about John Cleese was always very unsettled, I felt. There was always something else he wanted to do. He seemed constantly driven by this sense that there was a nirvana somewhere; some unique place where mind, body and soul would be utterly satisfied.

One must know oneself. If this does not serve to discover truth, it at least serves as a rule of life and there is nothing better.

It took the producers a while to realize I wanted a full-bodied life. I wanted to get out before I felt I'd sacrificed so much to get somewhere that I couldn't afford to leave.

Though the names karma yoga and sannyasa are different, the truth at the heart of both is the same.

I'm always pursuing the next dream, hunting for the next truth.

Happy the man who has been able to learn the causes of things.

The pursuit of truth will set you free; even if you never catch up with it.

Cease to press this enterprise, for you cannot know if what you are doing will be of real advantage to you. Be content to rule in peace your own kingdom, and bear to see us reign over the countries that are ours to govern.

I don't want to sacrifice my life, as I feel that I'm still very selfish and still want to pursue my dreams.

For where I found Truth, there found I my God, the Truth itself; which since I learnt, I have not forgotten.

Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already am. That I will never fulfill my obligation to surpass myself unless I first accept myself, and if I accept myself fully in the right way, I will already have surpassed myself.

My good friend, you are a citizen of Athens, a city which is very great and very famous for its wisdom and power - are you not ashamed of caring so much for the making of money and for fame and prestige, when you neither think nor care about wisdom and truth and the improvement of your soul?

To mature is in part to realize that while complete intimacy and omniscience and power cannot be had, self-transcendence, growth, and closeness to others are nevertheless within one's reach.

Any man would be forsworn to gain a kingdom.

If you have found your truth within yourself there is nothing more in this whole existence to find.

The greater the realization of truth and ahimsa, the greater the illumination.

And it's the wonders I'm after, even if I have to bleed for them.

Knowledge is a destination. Truth, the journey.

I want to live, I want to give, I've been a miner for a heart of gold.

So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein - more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation.