The soul of man is divided into three parts, intelligence, reason, and passion. Intelligence and passion are possessed by other animals, but reason by man alone.
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"It is not possible to conceal a base mind by a fair face."
"As long as Man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings, he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other."
"The most beautiful thing is harmony."
"Do not look in a mirror by lamplight."
"Don't walk on the highway."
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).
Philosophical statement on the human soul, reported by Alexander Polyhistor and Diogenes Laërtius.
Date: c. 570-495 BCE (reported 3rd century CE)
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Humans share basic intelligence and emotional drives with animals, but rational thought—the ability to deliberate, reflect, and reason systematically—belongs to humans alone. This tripartite model of the soul ranks reason above instinct and passion as the defining human quality. The message: what truly separates us from other creatures isn't cleverness or feeling, but our capacity for structured, logical thought.
Pythagoras founded a religious-philosophical brotherhood around the belief that mathematical reasoning unlocks cosmic truth. His theorem and number mysticism both depended on pure rational thought, not instinct or emotion. This quote directly echoes his core philosophy: reason is the soul's highest faculty, the sacred tool that distinguishes humans and connects them to the divine mathematical order he believed governed all reality.
In 6th-century BCE Greece, thinkers were actively dismantling mythological accounts of human nature. Pre-Socratic philosophers debated what separates humans from animals—a question centered on logos, rational speech and thought. Mystery religions competed with philosophy for spiritual authority. By declaring reason uniquely human, Pythagoras positioned mathematical and philosophical inquiry as humanity's highest pursuit at the very moment Greek intellectual culture was defining itself.
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