Philo of Larissa Quotes
Philo of Larissa was the last head of the skeptical Platonic Academy and the teacher of Cicero in Rome. The successor of Clitomachus, he gradually moderated the radical skepticism of the Academy of Arcesilaus and Carneades, defending in his late Roman Books the view that knowledge in the strict Stoic sense is impossible, but that the wise may nevertheless hold reasonable opinions. The quotes below are attributed to Philo of Larissa, organized by topic.
Browse Philo of Larissa by topic
Philo of Larissa on Freedom
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“But you say, “by obedience to another he loses his liberty.” How then is it that children suffer the orders of their father and mother, and pupils the injunctions of their instructors?”
Every Good Man is Free | 36. -
“We have a very clear evidence of freedom in the equality recognized by all the good in addressing each other.”
Every Good Man is Free | 48. -
“Noble souls, whose brightness the greed of fortune cannot dim, have a kingly something, which urges them to contend on equal footing with persons of the most massive dignity and pits freedom of speech against arrogance.”
Every Good Man is Free | 126. -
“He who has God alone for his leader, he alone is free.”
Every Good Man is Free | 20. -
“The good man … has learnt to set at naught the injunctions laid upon him by those most lawless rulers of the soul, inspired as he is by his ardent yearning for the freedom whose peculiar heritage it is that it obeys no orders and works no will but its own.”
Every Good Man is Free | 22.
Philo of Larissa on Justice
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“There is no sweeter delight than that the soul should be charged through and through with justice, exercising itself in her eternal principles and doctrines and leaving no vacant place into which injustice can make its way.”
On the Special Laws | 97.
Philo of Larissa on Knowledge
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Attributed to Philo of Larissa:
“The wise have not knowledge in the Stoic sense, but they hold reasonable opinion.”
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Attributed to Philo of Larissa:
“Plato did not teach a system; he taught a way of inquiry.”
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Attributed to Philo of Larissa:
“Between certainty and ignorance lies the broad field of the probable.”
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Attributed to Philo of Larissa:
“The Academy and the Stoa quarrel less than they imagine.”
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“Nothing will a man rue more than refusal to listen to the wise.”
Every Good Man is Free | 54. -
“Wisdom … never closes her school of thought but always opens her doors to those who thirst for the sweet water of discourse, and pouring on them an unstinted stream of undiluted doctrine, persuades them to be drunken with the drunkenness which is soberness itself.”
Every Good Man is Free | 13.
Philo of Larissa on Life
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“As parents in private life teach wisdom to their children, so do [poets] in public life to their cities.”
Every Good Man is Free | 143.
Philo of Larissa on Love
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“The legislator of the Jews in a bolder spirit went to a further extreme and in the practice of his “naked” philosophy, as they call it, ventured to speak of him who was possessed by love of the divine.”
Every Good Man is Free | 43. -
“A far greater glory is it to the wise to die for freedom, the love of which stands in very truth implanted in the soul like nothing else, not as a casual adjunct but an essential part of its unity, and cannot be amputated without the whole system being destroyed as a result.”
Every Good Man is Free | 75.
Philo of Larissa on Mind
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Attributed to Philo of Larissa:
“Suspension of judgment is a discipline of the mind, not a refusal to think.”
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“The majority, who through the blindness of their reason do not discern the damages which the soul has sustained, only feel the pain of external injuries, because the faculty of judgment, which alone can enable them to apprehend the damage to the mind, is taken from them.”
Every Good Man is Free | 55.
Philo of Larissa on Nature
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“But some, making no account of the wealth of nature, pursue the wealth of vain opinions. They choose to lean on one who lacks rather than one who has the gift of sight, and with this defective guidance to their steps must of necessity fall.”
On the Virtues | 167.
Philo of Larissa on Virtue
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“If one adds anything small or great to the queen of virtues, piety, or on the other hand takes something from it, in either case he will change and transform its nature. Addition will beget superstition and subtraction will beget impiety.”
On the Special Laws | 99- 101. -
“Bodies have men as their masters, souls their vices and passions.”
Every Good Man is Free | 17.