Anaximander Quotes
Anaximander was a Greek philosopher of Miletus, a pupil and successor of Thales, born around 610 BC. He is the first known thinker to have written a work of natural philosophy in prose and the first to propose a non-mythological account of the origin of the cosmos. The quotes below are attributed to Anaximander, organized by topic.
Browse Anaximander by topic
Anaximander on God
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Attributed to Anaximander:
“There are innumerable worlds, which are gods.”
Anaximander on Justice
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“All things must in equity again decline into that whence they have their origin for they must give satisfaction and atonement for injustice each in the order of time.”
On Nature , as quoted by Friedrich Ueberweg , History of Philosophy, from Thales to the Present Time (1885) Vol. 1, p. 35.
Anaximander on Knowledge
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“There cannot be a single, simple body which is infinite, either, as some hold, one distinct from the elements, which they then derive from it, nor without this qualification. For there are some who make this (i.e. a body distinct from the elements) the infinite , and not air or water , in order that the other things may not be destroyed by their infinity. They are in opposition one to another — ai”
As quoted in Physics by Aristotle , as translated by John Burnet
Anaximander on Nature
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Attributed to Anaximander:
“The first principle of things that are is the boundless.”
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Attributed to Anaximander:
“Whence things have their origin, thence also their destruction happens, according to necessity; for they give to each other justice and recompense for their injustice in conformity with the ordinance of Time.”
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Attributed to Anaximander:
“The earth is cylindrical in shape, and its depth is a third of its breadth.”
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Attributed to Anaximander:
“The first living creatures were born in moisture, enclosed in thorny barks; and as their age increased, they came forth upon the drier part.”
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“The Earth is cylindrical, three times as wide as it is deep, and only the upper part is inhabited. But this Earth is isolated in space, and the sky is a complete sphere in the center of which is located, unsupported, our cylinder, the Earth, situated at an equal distance from all the points of the sky.”
As quoted in "Science Attests the Accuracy of the Bible" in The Watchtower (1 October 1980)