Anaxagoras Quotes
Anaxagoras of Clazomenae was an ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosopher of the 5th century BC, born in Ionia and active for many years in Athens, where he was a friend and reportedly a teacher of Pericles. He held that the cosmos is composed of an infinite number of qualitatively distinct elementary particles, each containing a portion of all things, and that these particles were originally ordered into the perceptible cosmos by a cosmic Mind (nous). The quotes below are attributed to Anaxagoras, organized by topic.
Anaxagoras on Life
-
Attributed to Anaxagoras:
“I was born to contemplate the heavens.”
Anaxagoras on Mind
-
Attributed to Anaxagoras:
“Mind alone is unmixed and pure, and rules over all things.”
Anaxagoras on Nature
-
Attributed to Anaxagoras:
“All things were together, infinite both in number and in smallness; then Mind came and arranged them.”
-
Attributed to Anaxagoras:
“In everything there is a portion of everything.”
-
Attributed to Anaxagoras:
“The sun is a fiery stone larger than the Peloponnese.”