Diogenes Laërtius: Quotes about God

Diogenes Laërtius was biographer of ancient Greek philosophers. Explore interesting quotes on god.
Diogenes Laërtius: 214 quotes12 likes

“The Stoics also teach that God is unity, and that he is called Mind and Fate and Jupiter, and by many other names besides.”

Diogenes Laërtius

Zeno, 68.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 7: The Stoics

“He used to teach that God is incorporeal, as Plato also asserted, and that his providence extends over all the heavenly bodies.”

Diogenes Laërtius

Aristotle, 13.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 5: The Peripatetics

“Socrates said, "Those who want fewest things are nearest to the gods."”

Diogenes Laërtius

Socrates, 11.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 2: Socrates, his predecessors and followers

“One of his sayings was, "Even the gods cannot strive against necessity."”

Diogenes Laërtius

Pittacus, 4.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 1: The Seven Sages

“He used to say that personal beauty was a better introduction than any letter; 18 but others say that it was Diogenes who gave this description of it, while Aristotle called beauty "the gift of God"; that Socrates called it "a short-lived tyranny"; Theophrastus, "a silent deceit"; Theocritus, "an ivory mischief"; Carneades, "a sovereignty which stood in need of no guards."”

Diogenes Laërtius

Aristotle, 9.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 5: The Peripatetics

“That the gods superintend all the affairs of men, and that there are such beings as dæmons.”

Diogenes Laërtius

Plato, 42.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 3: Plato

“They also say that God is an animal immortal, rational, perfect, and intellectual in his happiness, unsusceptible of any kind of evil, having a foreknowledge of the universe and of all that is in the universe; however, that he has not the figure of a man; and that he is the creator of the universe, and as it were the Father of all things in common, and that a portion of him pervades everything.”

Diogenes Laërtius

Zeno, 72.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 7: The Stoics