If you have a wounded heart, touch it as little as you would an injured eye. There are only two remedies for the suffering of the soul: hope and patience.
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"Anger begins with folly and ends with repentance."
"If there be light, then there is darkness; if cold, heat; if height, depth; if solid, fluid; if hard, soft; if rough, smooth; if calm, tempest; if prosperity, adversity; if life, death."
"Sacrifice an odd number to the celestial gods, and to the infernal an even."
"Concern should drive us into action and not into a depression."
"Not to speak of Pythagorean beans, from which, it is said, Pythagoras himself abstained."
Greek philosopher and mathematician whose school in Croton combined geometry (the Pythagorean theorem), number-mysticism, and a religious-vegetarian way of life. Closely associated with Thales of Miletus (earlier pre-Socratic and the first philosopher). For an intellectual contrast, see Heraclitus, pre-Socratic Greek philosopher of flux — Heraclitus called Pythagoras 'the chief of swindlers' — among the founding insults of the philosophical-rivalry tradition. Their 'all is flux' vs 'all is number' poles still organize the philosophy of mathematics today (Platonist vs anti-realist).
A philosophical reflection on emotional healing.
Date: c. 570-495 BCE (attributed later)
BiblicalFound in 1 providers: gemini
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When emotional pain strikes, obsessing over it prolongs the suffering, just as repeatedly touching an injured eye worsens the damage. The quote counsels restraint in dwelling on heartbreak or grief. Rather than compulsively analyzing or reopening wounds, two internal resources offer genuine relief: hope, which orients us toward a better future, and patience, which allows natural healing to occur. Both require trusting that time and outlook, not intervention, restore the soul.
Pythagoras founded a philosophical brotherhood bound by strict ethics and belief in the soul's immortality through reincarnation. He viewed philosophy as medicine for the soul, shaping his community's rigorous daily practices. This quote's prescription of hope and patience mirrors his teaching that inner purification is gradual and requires endurance, not force. His focus on soul-care predates formal psychology, reflecting his conviction that inner life, not just mathematics, demanded systematic cultivation and attention.
In 6th-century BC Greece, emotional suffering was commonly attributed to divine punishment or divine interference, not understood psychologically. Greek medicine was only beginning to move toward naturalistic explanations; Hippocrates would not codify this shift for another century. Pythagoras's analogy between physical injury and emotional pain was radical, suggesting both followed natural principles. Amid frequent wars, political upheaval, and short life expectancies, prescribing hope and patience as systematic remedies offered an unusually rational framework for personal resilience.
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