Bion of Borysthenes

From Wikiquote

Bion of Borysthenes (c. 325-c. 250 BC) was a Greek philosopher closely allied to the Cynic school, who was famous in the ancient world for his witty remarks.

[edit] Sourced

• Good slaves are free, but bad free men are slaves of many passions.
  • Stobaeus, iii.1.18

• How stupid it was for the king to tear out his hair in grief, as if baldness were a cure for sorrow.
  • Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, iii. 26

• It hurts the bald-head just as much as the thatched-head to have his hairs plucked.
  • Seneca, On Tranquility of the Mind

• Boys throw stones at frogs in fun, but the frogs do not die in fun, but in earnest.
  • Plutarch, Moralia, xii. 66

• Love of money is the mother-city (metropolis) of all evils.
  • Stobaeus, iii.10.37

• Just as the good actor perform well whatever role the poet assigns, so too must the good man perform whatever Fortune assigns. For she, says Bion, just like a poet, sometimes assigns the leading role, sometimes that of the supporting role; sometimes that of a king, sometimes that of a beggar. Do not, therefore, being a supporting actor, desire the role of the lead.
  • Teles of Megara, fr. 2, On Self-Sufficiency

• Therefore we should not try to alter circumstances but to adapt ourselves to them as they really are, just as sailors do. They don't try to change the winds or the sea but ensure that they are always ready to adapt themselves to conditions. In a flat calm they use the oars; with a following breeze they hoist full sail; in a head wind they shorten sail or heave to. Adapt yourself to circumstances in the same way.
  • Teles of Megara, fr. 2, On Self-Sufficiency

[edit] Lives of Eminent Philosophers, by Diogenes Laërtius

• Bion used to say that the way to the shades below was easy; he could go there with his eyes shut.
  • Book IV, Sec. 49.

• Once when Bion was at sea in the company of some wicked men, he fell into the hands of pirates; and when the rest said, "We are undone if we are known,"—"But I," said he, "am undone if we are not known."
  • Book IV, Sec. 50.

• Of a rich man who was niggardly he said, "That man does not own his estate, but his estate owns him."
  • Book IV, Sec. 50.

• Bion insisted on the principle that "The property of friends is common."
  • Book IV, Sec. 53.

• Old age is the harbor of all ills.
  • Book IV, Sec. 48.

• Wealth is the sinews of affairs.
  • Book IV, Sec. 48.

• The road to Hades is the easiest to travel.
  • Book IV, Sec. 49.

• He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him.
  • Book IV, Sec. 50.

• Self-conceit is the enemy of progress.
  • Book IV, Sec. 50