21+ Anaxagoras Quotes On Nature, Religion And Universe

Anaxagoras was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who lived in the 5th century BC. He is known for his cosmological theories, which attempted to explain natural phenomena in terms of physical processes rather than divine intervention. He is also credited with introducing the concept of Nous, or Mind, as the organizing principle of the universe. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Anaxagoras on nature, religion, universe.

Top 10 Anaxagoras Quotes

1. Appearances are a glimpse of the unseen.
2. There is no smallest among the small and no largest among the large, but always something still smaller and something still larger.
3. All other things have a portion of everything, but Mind is infinite and self-ruled, and is mixed with nothing but is all alone by itself.
4. Everything has a natural explanation. The moon is not a god, but a great rock, and the sun a hot rock.
5. In everything, there is a share of everything
6. Conclusions from observations are unreliable, only the mind can come nearer to to the truth. Thus, in some ways, philosophy is more important than science.
7. All things were together, infinite both in number and in smallness; for the small too was infinite.
8. The sun provides the moon with its brightness.
9. The Sun is a mass of fiery stone, a little larger than Greece.
10. Neither is there a smallest part of what is small, but there is always a smaller (for it is impossible that what is should cease to be). Likewise there is always something larger than what is large.

Anaxagoras Short Quotes

• It is not I who have lost the Athenians, but the Athenians who have lost me.
• The descent to Hades is the same from every place.
• The descent into Hades is much the same from whatever place we start.
• Appearances are but a glimpse of what is hidden.
• Men would live exceedingly quiet if these two words, mine and thine, were taken away.
• The purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens.

Anaxagoras Famous Quotes And Sayings

The Greeks are wrong to recognize coming into being and perishing; for nothing comes into being nor perishes, but is rather compounded or dissolved from things that are. So they would be right to call coming into being composition and perishing dissolution. — Anaxagoras

And since the portions of the great and the small are equal in number, so too all things would be in everything. Nor is it possible that they should exist apart, but all things have a portion of everything. — Anaxagoras

The forces of rotation caused red hot masses of stones to be torn away from the Earth and to be thrown into the ether, and this is the origin of the stars. — Anaxagoras

Wrongly do the Greeks suppose that aught begins or ceases to be; for nothing comes into being or is destroyed; but all is an aggregation or secretion of preexisting things; so that all becoming might more correctly be called becoming mixed, and all corruption, becoming separate. — Anaxagoras

The Greeks do not think correctly about coming-to-be and passing-away; for no thing comes to be or passes away, but is mixed together and dissociated from the things that are. And thus they would be correct to call coming-to-be mixing-together and passing-away dissociating — Anaxagoras

Life Lessons by Anaxagoras

1. Anaxagoras taught that everything is composed of small, indivisible particles, and that all matter is ultimately made of the same substance.
2. He believed that the universe was governed by natural laws, and that the human mind was capable of understanding these laws.
3. Anaxagoras also believed that the universe was infinite and eternal, and that it was composed of an infinite number of separate parts.