1001Philosophers

Heraclides Ponticus Quotes

Heraclides Ponticus was a Greek philosopher of the early Academy, born at Heraclea on the Pontus and trained at Athens under Plato. A polymath of extraordinary range, he wrote on physics, astronomy, rhetoric, music, history, and the soul, and was credited in antiquity with the doctrine that the Earth rotates daily on its own axis while the heavens stand still, and with the proposal that the inner planets orbit the Sun rather than the Earth. The quotes below are attributed to Heraclides Ponticus, organized by topic.

Heraclides Ponticus on Knowledge

  • Attributed to Heraclides Ponticus:

    “Pythagoras was the first to call himself a philosopher, that is, a lover of wisdom.”

  • Attributed to Heraclides Ponticus:

    “Astronomy frees the soul from the prison of the senses.”

Heraclides Ponticus on Mind

  • Attributed to Heraclides Ponticus:

    “The soul is a luminous body.”

Heraclides Ponticus on Nature

  • Attributed to Heraclides Ponticus:

    “The Earth turns daily on its own axis.”

  • Attributed to Heraclides Ponticus:

    “The world is composed of separate, indivisible bodies.”