Diodorus Cronus Quotes
Diodorus Cronus was a Greek philosopher of the Dialectical school descended from the Megarians and one of the most important logicians of the early Hellenistic age. Active at Alexandria under Ptolemy I and at Athens, he was famous in antiquity for the celebrated Master Argument, which sought to derive the proposition that only the actual is possible from premises about the necessity of the past and the impossibility of the impossible following from the possible. The quotes below are attributed to Diodorus Cronus, organized by topic.
Diodorus Cronus on Nature
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Attributed to Diodorus Cronus:
“Motion is impossible, for the moving thing is neither in the place where it is nor in the place where it is not.”
Diodorus Cronus on Time
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Attributed to Diodorus Cronus:
“The future, if it is to be at all, must already be necessary.”
Diodorus Cronus on Truth
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Attributed to Diodorus Cronus:
“Only what is or will be is possible.”
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Attributed to Diodorus Cronus:
“What never will be is not possible.”
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Attributed to Diodorus Cronus:
“A conditional is true when it is impossible for the antecedent to hold and the consequent to fail.”