1001Philosophers

Gorgias Quotes on Knowledge

Gorgias of Leontini was a Greek Sophist and rhetorician who lived to a great age, traveling between Sicily and Athens as a celebrated public speaker. This page collects quotes attributed to Gorgias on the topic of knowledge, drawn from across the philosopher's works.

Quotes

  • Attributed to Gorgias:

    “Nothing exists. If anything did exist, it could not be known. If anything could be known, it could not be communicated to others.”

  • Attributed to Gorgias:

    “Speech is a powerful master, which by means of the smallest and most invisible body accomplishes the most divine things.”

  • Attributed to Gorgias:

    “Being is unrecognizable, even if it should exist.”

  • Attributed to Gorgias:

    “Tragedy is a deception in which the deceiver is more honest than the non-deceiver, and the deceived is wiser than the non-deceived.”