1001Philosophers

Bion of Borysthenes Quotes on Knowledge

Bion of Borysthenes was a Greek philosopher of the third century BC, the son of a freedman and a courtesan, who reinvented the ancient diatribe as a vehicle of moral instruction. This page collects quotes attributed to Bion of Borysthenes on the topic of knowledge, drawn from across the philosopher's works.

Quotes

  • Attributed to Bion of Borysthenes:

    “Old men should give advice; young men, action; everyone else, silence.”

  • “As quoted by Stobaeus, iii.1.18”

    Good slaves are free, but bad free men are slaves of many passions.
  • “How stupid it was for the king to tear out his hair in grief, as if baldness were a cure for sorrow.”

    As quoted by Cicero , Tusculan Disputations , iii. 26
  • “As quoted by Cicero , Tusculan Disputations , iii. 26”

    How stupid it was for the king to tear out his hair in grief, as if baldness were a cure for sorrow.
  • “As quoted by Plutarch , Moralia , xii. 66”

    Boys throw stones at frogs in fun, but the frogs do not die in fun, but in earnest.
  • “As quoted by Stobaeus, iii.10.37”

    Love of money is the mother-city ( metropolis ) of all evils.