Modern Wisdom from 5 Ancient Philosophers

Whether it is my love of all things intelligent, or the four years of Latin I took in highschool, I have always had a soft spot for philosophers. I love the idea of making a career of being insightful, and maybe that is what I am hoping to do here? In an honest attempt to stand on the shoulders of insightful giants like Aristotle, I have collected my favorite tidbits of wisdom from my favorite philosophers I consider to be truely timeless. These are lessons for life from some of the smartest men to ever live:

Heraclitus

(535-475 BCE)
“Day by day, what you choose, what you think and what you do is who you become.”
“Everything flows and nothing abides, everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.”
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”

Pericles

(circa 495-429 BCE)
“Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.”
“Time is the wisest counselor of all.”
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”

Plato

(circa 428—348 BCE)
“The greatest wealth is to live content with little.”
“Courage is knowing what not to fear.”
“Necessity is the mother of invention.”
“Ignorance is the root and stem of all evil.”

Seneca

(circa 4 BCE—65 AD)
“The greatest wealth is a poverty of desires.”
“One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.”
“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.
“A gift consists not of what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.”
“True happiness is… to enjoy the present without anxious dependence on the future.”
“Count each day as a separate life”.

Epictetus

(circa 55—135 AD)
“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”
“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”
“Make the best use of what’s in your power and take the rest as it happens.”

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