Fragment quoted in H. Diels and W. Kranz (eds.) Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, Vol. II (1952), no. 294; reference taken from Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations (2005), p. 261

“If one choose the goods of the soul, he chooses the diviner [portion]; if the goods of the body, the merely mortal.”

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Democritus

Source Book in Ancient Philosophy (1907), The Golden Sayings of Democritus

“Those who have a well-ordered character lead also a well-ordered life.”

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Democritus

Source Book in Ancient Philosophy (1907), The Golden Sayings of Democritus

“Moderation multiplies pleasures, and increases pleasure.”

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Democritus

Freeman (1948), p. 163
Wariant: Moderation increases enjoyment, and makes pleasure even greater.

“A life without a holiday is like a long journey without an inn to rest at.”

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Democritus

Source Book in Ancient Philosophy (1907), The Golden Sayings of Democritus

“Of all things the worst to teach the young is dalliance, for it is this that is the parent of those pleasures from which wickedness springs.”

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Democritus

Source Book in Ancient Philosophy (1907), The Golden Sayings of Democritus

“Men achieve tranquillity through moderation in pleasure and through the symmetry of life. Want and superfluity are apt to upset them and to cause great perturbations in the soul. The souls that are rent by violent conflicts are neither stable nor tranquil. One should therefore set his mind upon the things that are within his power, and be content with his opportunities, nor let his memory dwell very long on the envied and admired of men, nor idly sit and dream of them. Rather, he should contemplate the lives of those who suffer hardship, and vividly bring to mind their sufferings, so that your own present situation may appear to you important and to be envied, and so that it may no longer be your portion to suffer torture in your soul by your longing for more. For he who admires those who have, and whom other men deem blest of fortune, and who spends all his time idly dreaming of them, will be forced to be always contriving some new device because of his [insatiable] desire, until he ends by doing some desperate deed forbidden by the laws. And therefore one ought not to desire other men's blessings, and one ought not to envy those who have more, but rather, comparing his life with that of those who fare worse, and laying to heart their sufferings, deem himself blest of fortune in that he lives and fares so much better than they. Holding fast to this saying you will pass your life in greater tranquillity and will avert not a few of the plagues of life—envy and jealousy and bitterness of mind.”

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Democritus

Source Book in Ancient Philosophy (1907), The Golden Sayings of Democritus

“The hopes of the right-minded may be realized, those of fools are impossible.”

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Democritus

Source Book in Ancient Philosophy (1907), The Golden Sayings of Democritus

“This argument too shows that in truth we know nothing about anything, but every man shares the generally prevailing opinion.”

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Democritus

Source Book in Ancient Philosophy (1907), The Fragments

“Neither art nor wisdom may be attained without learning.”

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Democritus

Source Book in Ancient Philosophy (1907), The Golden Sayings of Democritus