Aristippus of Cyrene was a hedonistic Greek philosopher and the founder of the Cyrenaic school of philosophy.
13 Notes
435 BC - 356 BC
Cyrene, Libya
"Aristippus used to say that the principal advantage he had derived from philosophy was that he spoke freely and openly to everyone. The memory is an instrument of wonder"
"Aristippus put forward such bold arguments in favor of pleasure and riches, that he stirred up all philosophy to oppose him. But as for his morals, when the tyrant Dionysius offered him three pretty girls to choose from, he replied that he chose all three, since Paris had got into trouble for preferring one beauty to her two companions. After taking them home, however, he sent them back untouched. Once too, on a journey, when his servant complained at the weight of the money he was carrying, Aristippus ordered him to throw out so much as he found too heavy and leave it behind."
Book & Page: Michael Montaigne p.183
#Facts#Quotes"There is more subtlety in that laugh than in any answer. Let him borrow this amusing counter-finesse from Aristippus: 'Why should I untie it, since it is tiresome enough tied up?'"
Book & Page: Michael Montaigne p.81
#Quotes"There have been philosophers - witness Aristippus- who have disdained this natural tie. When someone insisted on the affection that he owed his children, since they came out of him, he began to spit, saying that this came out of him too, and that we also breed lice and worms."
Book & Page: Michael Montaigne p.95
#Quotes"his death is more tragic and more violent, but that of Socrates is in some ways still more beautiful. 'May the Gods send me one like it!' said Aristippus to those who were lamenting it."
Book & Page: Michael Montaigne p.180
#Quotes"Aristippus used to say that the principal advantage he had derived from philosophy was that he spoke freely and openly to everyone. The memory is an instrument of wonder"
Book & Page: Michael Montaigne p.359
#Quotes"Aristippus put forward such bold arguments in favor of pleasure and riches, that he stirred up all philosophy to oppose him. But as for his morals, when the tyrant Dionysius offered him three pretty girls to choose from, he replied that he chose all three, since Paris had got into trouble for preferring one beauty to her two companions. After taking them home, however, he sent them back untouched. Once too, on a journey, when his servant complained at the weight of the money he was carrying, Aristippus ordered him to throw out so much as he found too heavy and leave it behind."
Book & Page: Michael Montaigne p.183
#Quotes"There is more subtlety in that laugh than in any answer. Let him borrow this amusing counter-finesse from Aristippus: 'Why should I untie it, since it is tiresome enough tied up?'"
Book & Page: Michael Montaigne p.81
#Quotes"There have been philosophers - witness Aristippus- who have disdained this natural tie. When someone insisted on the affection that he owed his children, since they came out of him, he began to spit, saying that this came out of him too, and that we also breed lice and worms."
Book & Page: Michael Montaigne p.95
#Quotes"his death is more tragic and more violent, but that of Socrates is in some ways still more beautiful. 'May the Gods send me one like it!' said Aristippus to those who were lamenting it."
Book & Page: Michael Montaigne p.180
#Quotes"Aristippus used to say that the principal advantage he had derived from philosophy was that he spoke freely and openly to everyone. The memory is an instrument of wonder"
Book & Page: Michael Montaigne p.359
#Quotes"Aristippus put forward such bold arguments in favor of pleasure and riches, that he stirred up all philosophy to oppose him. But as for his morals, when the tyrant Dionysius offered him three pretty girls to choose from, he replied that he chose all three, since Paris had got into trouble for preferring one beauty to her two companions. After taking them home, however, he sent them back untouched. Once too, on a journey, when his servant complained at the weight of the money he was carrying, Aristippus ordered him to throw out so much as he found too heavy and leave it behind."
Book & Page: Michael Montaigne p.183
#Facts"
PHAEDRUS: But there is also a friend of yours who ought not to be forgotten.
SOCRATES: Who is he?
PHAEDRUS: Isocrates the fair:–What message will you send to him, and how shall we describe him?
SOCRATES: Isocrates is still young,
PHAEDRUS; but I am willing to hazard a prophecy concerning him.
PHAEDRUS: What would you prophesy?
SOCRATES: I think that he has a genius which soars above the orations of Lysias, and that his character is cast in a finer mold. My impression of him is that he will marvelously improve as he grows older, and that all former rhetoricians will be as children in comparison to him. And I believe that he will not be satisfied with rhetoric, but that there is in him a divine inspiration which will lead him to things higher still. For he has an element of philosophy in his nature. This is the message of the gods dwelling in this place, and which I will myself deliver to Isocrates, who is my delight; and do you give the other to Lysias, who is yours."
Book & Page: Plato pdf p.1114
#Praise