Antipater of Tarsus Quotes
Antipater of Tarsus was a Greek Stoic philosopher and the head of the Stoic school in the second century BC, succeeding Diogenes of Babylon at Athens around 152 BC. His writings, preserved only in fragments and citations, include works on duty and on the contradictions of the Academic skeptics, in which he refined the orthodox Stoic doctrine of the appropriate action and defended the rationality of the Stoic providential ordering of the world against the skeptical attacks of Carneades. The quotes below are attributed to Antipater of Tarsus, organized by topic.
Antipater of Tarsus on God
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Attributed to Antipater of Tarsus:
“Providence is not a comfort we add to the world; it is the rational order of the world itself.”
Antipater of Tarsus on Knowledge
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Attributed to Antipater of Tarsus:
“The skeptics quarrel with the Stoa as the sick quarrel with the physicians.”
Antipater of Tarsus on Virtue
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Attributed to Antipater of Tarsus:
“The wise man does what is appropriate, even when the world refuses to reward him.”
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Attributed to Antipater of Tarsus:
“Marriage and the begetting of children are not concessions to weakness; they are the appropriate work of a rational being in a rational cosmos.”
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Attributed to Antipater of Tarsus:
“Stoicism is the school of duty patiently discharged.”