1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. Theophrastus

Theophrastus Quotes

Theophrastus , a Greek native of Eresos in Lesbos , was the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He came to Athens at a young age and initially studied in Plato's school. After Plato's death, he attached himself to Aristotle who took to Theophrastus in his writings. When Aristotle fled Athens, Theophrastus took over as head of the Lyceum. Theophrastus presided over the Peripatetic school for thirty-six years, during which time the school flourished greatly. He is often considered the father of botany for his works on plants. After his death, the Athenians honoured him with a public funeral. His successor as head of the school was Strato of Lampsacus.

The interests of Theophrastus were wide ranging, extending from biology and physics to ethics and metaphysics. His two surviving botanical works, Enquiry into Plants and On the Causes of Plants, were an important influence on Renaissance science. There are also surviving works On Moral Characters, On Sense Perception, On Stones, and fragments on Physics and Metaphysics. In philosophy, he studied grammar and language and continued Aristotle's work on logic. He also regarded space as the mere arrangement and position of bodies, time as an accident of motion, and motion as a necessary consequence of all activity. In ethics, he regarded happiness as depending on external influences as well as on virtue.



Wikipedia  

✵ 371 BC – 287 BC   •   Other names Theofrastos z Lebosu
Theophrastus photo
Theophrastus: 5   quotes 1   like

Famous Theophrastus Quotes

“If you are an ignorant man, you are acting wisely; but if you have had any education, you are behaving like a fool.”

Theophrastus

Quoted by Diogenes Laërtius; translation from C. D. Yonge (trans.), The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (London: H. G. Bohn, 1853), p. 196.
Said "when a man preserved a strict silence during the whole of a banquet".

“Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.”

Theophrastus

Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, Book 5.

“Superstition would seem to be simply cowardice in regard to the supernatural.”

Theophrastus

Characters, ch. 28 (16); translation from R. C. Jebb and J. E. Sandys (trans.), The Characters of Theophrastus (London: Macmillan, 1909), p. 139.

“The Unseasonable man is one who will go up to a busy person, and open his heart to him. He will serenade his mistress when she has a fever. He will address himself to a man who has been cast in a surety-suit, and request him to become his security. He will come to give evidence when the trial is over.”

Theophrastus

Characters, ch. 9 (12); translation from R. C. Jebb and J. E. Sandys (trans.), The Characters of Theophrastus (London: Macmillan, 1909), p. 75.

“Remember that life holds out many pleasing deceits to us by the vanity of glory; for that when we are beginning to live, then we are dying. There is, therefore, nothing more profitless than ambition.”

Theophrastus

Quoted by Diogenes Laërtius; translation from C. D. Yonge (trans.), The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (London: H. G. Bohn, 1853), p. 196.
His dying words.

Similar authors

Xenophon photo
Xenophon 21
ancient Greek historian and philosopher
Epicurus photo
Epicurus 30
ancient Greek philosopher
Isocrates photo
Isocrates 23
ancient greek rhetorician
Thales photo
Thales 9
ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician
Protagoras photo
Protagoras 6
pre-Socratic Greek philosopher
Pythagoras photo
Pythagoras 121
ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher
Plato photo
Plato 80
Classical Greek philosopher
Hippocrates photo
Hippocrates 33
ancient Greek physician
Plutarch photo
Plutarch 251
ancient Greek historian and philosopher
Aesop photo
Aesop 36
ancient Greek storyteller