Parmenides Quotes on Knowledge
Parmenides of Elea was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher of the late sixth and early fifth centuries BC, the founder of the Eleatic school and one of the most influential thinkers of the Pre-Socratic period. This page collects quotes attributed to Parmenides on the topic of knowledge, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to Parmenides:
“It is necessary to speak and to think what is; for being is, but nothing is not.”
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“You must learn all things, both the unshaken heart of persuasive truth , and the opinions of mortals in which there is no true warranty.”
Frag B 1.28-30, quoted by Sextus Empiricus , Against the Mathematicians , vii. 3; Simplicius , Commentary on the Heavens , 557-8; Proclus , Commentary on the Timaeus I , 345 -
“Frag B 1.28-30, quoted by Sextus Empiricus , Against the Mathematicians , vii. 3; Simplicius , Commentary on the Heavens , 557-8; Proclus , Commentary on the Timaeus I , 345”
You must learn all things, both the unshaken heart of persuasive truth , and the opinions of mortals in which there is no true warranty. -
“Frag. B 2.2-6, quoted by Proclus , Commentary on the Timaeus I , 345”
The only roads of enquiry there are to think of: one, that it is and that it is not possible for it not to be, this is the path of persuasion (for truth is its companion); the other, that it is not and that it must not be — this I say to you is a path wholly unknowable. -
“Frag. B 3, quoted by Plotinus , Enneads V, i.8”
For it is the same thing that can be thought and that can be. -
“It is indifferent to me where I am to begin , for there shall I return again.”
Frag. B 5, quoted by Proclus , Commentary on the Parmenides , 708 -
“Frag. B 5, quoted by Proclus , Commentary on the Parmenides , 708”
It is indifferent to me where I am to begin , for there shall I return again. -
“Frag. B 7.1-2, quoted by Plato , Sophist , 237a”
Never will this prevail, that the things that are not are — bar your thought from this road of inquiry.