“What, then, shall we do? someone may ask. What else, indeed, than devote ourselves to the care of our souls, keeping all our leisure free from other things. Accordingly, we should not be slaves of the body, except so far as is strictly necessary; but our souls we should supply with all things that are best, through philosophy freeing them, as from a prison, from association with the passions of the body.”

Source: On Greek Literature, p. 415

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "What, then, shall we do? someone may ask. What else, indeed, than devote ourselves to the care of our souls, keeping al…" by Basil of Caesarea?
Basil of Caesarea photo
Basil of Caesarea 29
Christian Saint 329–379

Related quotes

George Bernard Shaw photo
Marcus Tullius Cicero photo

“Philosophy is certainly the medicine of the soul. Its aid is to be sought not from without, as in diseases of the body; and we must labour with all our resources and with all our strength to cure ourselves.”
Est profecto animi medicina, philosophia; cuius auxilium non ut in corporis morbis petendum est foris, omnibusque opibus viribus, ut nosmet ipsi nobis mederi possimus, elaborandum est.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman

Book III, Chapter III; translation by Walter Miller
Tusculanae Disputationes – Tusculan Disputations (45 BC)

Marcus Garvey photo
Leo Tolstoy photo
George Bernard Shaw photo
Swami Vivekananda photo
John Irving photo
B.K.S. Iyengar photo

“When we free ourselves from physical disabilities, emotional disturbances, and mental distractions, we open the gates to our soul.”

B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014) Indian yoga teacher and scholar

Source: Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom, p. 22-23

Democritus photo

“Medicine heals diseases of the body, wisdom frees the soul from passions.”

Democritus Ancient Greek philosopher, pupil of Leucippus, founder of the atomic theory

Freeman (1948), p. 149
Variant: Medicine cures the diseases of the body; wisdom, on the other hand, relieves the soul of its sufferings.

Robert McKee photo

“No matter our talent, we all know in the midnight of our souls that 90 percent of what we do is less than our best.”

Robert McKee (1941) American academic specialised in seminars for screenwriters

Source: Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting

Related topics