Diogenes Laërtius: Quotes about time

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

“There are many marvellous stories told of Pherecydes. For it is said that he was walking along the seashore at Samos, and that seeing a ship sailing by with a fair wind, he said that it would soon sink; and presently it sank before his eyes. At another time he was drinking some water which had been drawn up out of a well, and he foretold that within three days there would be an earthquake; and there was one.”

Diogenes Laërtius

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

“A man once asked Diogenes what was the proper time for supper, and he made answer, "If you are a rich man, whenever you please; and if you are a poor man, whenever you can."”

Diogenes Laërtius

Diogenes, 6.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 6: The Cynics

“In the time of Pythagoras that proverbial phrase Ipse dixit was introduced into ordinary life.”

Diogenes Laërtius

Pythagoras, 25.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 8: Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans

“Time is the image of eternity.”

Diogenes Laërtius

Plato, 41.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 3: Plato

“Bias used to say that men ought to calculate life both as if they were fated to live a long and a short time, and that they ought to love one another as if at a future time they would come to hate one another; for that most men were bad.”

Diogenes Laërtius

Bias, 5.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 1: The Seven Sages

“Very late in life, when he was studying geometry, some one said to Lacydes, "Is it then a time for you to be learning now?"”

Diogenes Laërtius

"If it is not," he replied, "when will it be?"
Lacydes, 5.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 4: The Academy

“It was a favourite expression of Theophrastus that time was the most valuable thing that a man could spend.”

Diogenes Laërtius

Theophrastus, 10.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 5: The Peripatetics