Sextus Empiricus Quotes
Sextus Empiricus was a Greek physician and philosopher of the second and early third centuries AD, the principal extant source for ancient Pyrrhonian Skepticism. His major works, the Outlines of Pyrrhonism and Against the Mathematicians (also known as Against the Professors), set out the Pyrrhonian method and apply it systematically to the dogmatic claims of grammarians, rhetoricians, geometers, arithmeticians, astrologers, musicians, logicians, physicists, and ethicists. The quotes below are attributed to Sextus Empiricus, organized by topic.
Sextus Empiricus on Happiness
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Attributed to Sextus Empiricus:
“Tranquillity follows the suspension of judgement, just as a shadow follows the body.”
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Attributed to Sextus Empiricus:
“The end of skepticism is tranquillity.”
Sextus Empiricus on Knowledge
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Attributed to Sextus Empiricus:
“We do not seek to overturn what is presented as the experience of others.”
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Attributed to Sextus Empiricus:
“The Skeptic, in fact, had the same experience which is said to have befallen the painter Apelles, who, despairing of representing the foam of his subject, threw his sponge at the picture and produced the very effect he had failed to achieve.”
Sextus Empiricus on Mind
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Attributed to Sextus Empiricus:
“Suspension of judgement is a state of mental rest, owing to which we neither deny nor affirm anything.”
Sextus Empiricus on Truth
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Attributed to Sextus Empiricus:
“We oppose appearances to appearances, or thoughts to thoughts, or alternately appearances to thoughts.”
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Attributed to Sextus Empiricus:
“To every account an equal account is opposed.”