Zeno of Citium
Founder of Stoicism, which emphasized virtue, reason, and living in harmony with nature.
Most quoted
"The avaricious man is like the barren sandy ground of the desert which sucks in all the rain and dew with greediness, but yields no fruitful herbs or plants for the benefit of others."
— from As reported by Diogenes Laërtius
"That which exercises reason is more excellent than that which does not exercise reason; there is nothing more excellent than the universe, therefore the universe exercises reason."
— from As reported by Diogenes Laërtius
"The end may be defined as life in accordance with nature or, in other words, in accordance with our own human nature as well as that of the universe."
— from As reported by Diogenes Laërtius
All quotes by Zeno of Citium (145)
Live according to nature, and you will never be poor.
The foundation of justice is good faith.
Anger is a brief madness.
We are members of one great body, the universe.
True wealth is the ability to control one's desires.
The end and aim of living is to be wise.
Nothing happens without reason.
The virtuous man is free; the vicious is a slave.
Nature has given us one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.
In the life of man, his body is the carriage, his mind the driver.
The wise man seeks not pleasure, but absence of pain.
All sins are equal.
The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.
To be free is to live as one wishes.
The good life is the one lived in accordance with reason.
Fortune is not on the side of the faint-hearted.
The soul is warmed by the fire of knowledge.
Justice is the crowning glory of the virtues.
We must conquer ourselves before we conquer others.
The end of all activity is tranquility.
Contemporaries of Zeno of Citium
Other Philosophys born within 50 years of Zeno of Citium (-334–-262).