Best ANAXIMANDER of Miletus Quotes | Pre-Socratic Greek Philosopher

Anaximander (/æˌnæksɪˈmændər/; Greek: Ἀναξίμανδρος Anaximandros; c. 610 – c. 546 BC), was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who lived in Miletus, a city of Ionia (in modern-day Turkey). He belonged to the Milesian school and learned the teachings of his master Thales. He succeeded Thales and became the second master of that school where he counted Anaximenes and, arguably, Pythagoras amongst his pupils. Little of his life and work is known today. According to available historical documents, he is the first philosopher known to have written down his studies, although only one fragment of his work remains. Fragmentary testimonies found in documents after his death provide a portrait of the man. Anaximander was an early proponent of science and tried to observe and explain different aspects of the universe, with a particular interest in its origins, claiming that nature is ruled by laws, just like human societies, and anything that disturbs the balance of nature does not last long.

Quotes:

1. “The Limitless has no principle because, in such a case, it would be limited.”


2. “The indefinite is endless and incorruptible, for what begins necessarily has an end, and every corruption has a term.”


3. “Nature is eternal and does not age.”


4. “The Earth is cylindrical, three times as wide as it is depth, and only the top is inhabited. But this earth is isolated in space and the sky is a sphere in the center of which is located, without support, our cylinder, the earth, situated at the same distance from all points of the sky.”


5. “Water is the arché (principle) of the universe.”


6. “There are many worlds and many systems of Universes existing all at the same time, all of them perishable.”


7. “The source from which existing things derive their existence is also that to which they return at their destruction.”


8. “The original principle of things is Apeiron. That is where they arise, that is where they then perish because of necessity.”


9. “The principle and element of things are undefined.”


10. “Immortal and indestructible surrounds everything and destroys everything.”


11. “The undefined is divine because it is immortal and imperishable.”


12. “Things originate from the separation of opposites.”


13. “All beings derive from other older beings by successive transformations.”