36 phrases from Thales of Miletus that will make you reflect

You may be familiar with the name Thales of Miletus, because although he lived and died a long time ago, he left a great legacy for humanity. Exactly he lived and died between 624 and 546 BC. He was a philosopher, mathematician, geometrician, physicist, astronomer, and lawgiver of Ancient Greece.

His thoughts have reached us to this day thanks to the great historians of Antiquity who quote him. He was known as a philosopher of nature. He, with another group of Greek thinkers, wanted to understand the origin of the cosmos.

For them, the universe had to be made up of an original element, which depending on how the particles were combined, gave rise to the other forms of the world. In fact, he thought that water was the fundamental element of all creation.

Phrases of Thales of Miletus

Next we are going to leave you the phrases of Thales of Miletus that have survived to this day. Without a doubt, it is a great treasure of history that is worth treasuring, since they are thoughts from thousands of years ago ... and that still surprise us today!

1. The happiness of the body is based on health; that of understanding, in knowledge.
2. Always looking for a chore; When you have it, don't think about anything other than doing it well.
3. Hope is the only good common to all men; those who have lost everything still possess it.
4. Water is the beginning of everything.
5. The hardest thing in life is knowing yourself.
6. The past is true, the future dark.
7. Isolate yourself in your inner world and reflect on the system of the universe.
8. All things are made of water, and all things dissolve in water.
9. The most difficult thing is to know ourselves; the easiest is to speak ill of others.
10. The biggest thing is space, because it encloses everything.
11. Many words never indicate wisdom.
12. The ultimate pleasure is getting what you want.
13. The happiness of the body is based on health; that of understanding, in knowledge.
14. Time is the wisest of all things; because it brings everything to light.
15. A multitude of words is not proof of a prudent mind.
16. Take for yourself the advice that you give to another.
17. We do not actually live on top of a solid earth, but at the bottom of an ocean of air.
18. If envy is natural in men, better hide your prosperity and thus avoid provoking it.
19. Beauty does not come from a beautiful body, but from beautiful actions.
20. If you are looking for a good solution and cannot find it, consult time, since time is the greatest wisdom.
21. Nothing is older than God, because it was never created; nothing more beautiful than the world, it is the work of that same God; nothing is more active than thought, as it flies over the entire universe; nothing is stronger than need, because everyone must submit to it.
22. I am grateful to my destiny for three things; because he was born human, because he was born a man not a woman, because he was born a Hellene not a barbarian.
23. Work increases virtue. He who does not know how to cultivate the arts, work with the hoe.
24. The strongest is the need, because it dominates everything.
25. The fastest thing is understanding, because it runs through everything.
26. Thus he will break the tongue of charlatans.
27. If you are looking for a good solution and cannot find it, consult time, since time is the greatest wisdom.
28. Use your words carefully; that they do not build a wall between you and those who live with you.
29. Avoid doing what can be blamed on others for doing.
30. I will be rewarded enough if by telling others you will not claim the discovery as your own, but will say it was mine.
31. Placing your stick at the end of the shadow of the pyramid, you made two triangles with the sun's rays, and thus proved that the pyramid (height) was for the stick (height) like the shadow of the pyramid to the shadow of the stick.
32. Who is happy? A person who has a healthy body, who covers himself with peace of mind and who cultivates his talent.
33. If there is a change, there must be something that changes, yet there is no change.
34. If there is neither excessive wealth nor immoderate poverty in a nation, then it can be said that justice will prevail.
35. Statesmen are like surgeons; their mistakes are deadly.
36. Ay Tales! you are not able to see what is happening at your feet and perceive the sky at the same time.

What do you think of these phrases from Thales of Miletus? As you have seen, these are phrases that can make you reflect today. They are words that without a doubt you may have thought at some point in your life. There are not many more phrases in knowledge since Thales lived thousands of years ago and it is not easy to collect all his work or the phrases that were most prevalent.

But what we are sure of is that they are phrases that do not go out of style, that touch our hearts because it says a lot in a few words. Injustice, life, thought, human reflection ... everything is part of the evolutionary process of society. So much so, that many of his phrases could be said today and still have great meaning ... Because it seems that for many thousands of years that pass, although we advance in technology and in knowledge and information, the reality is that humanity itself continues to have the same reflections as in the time when Thales of Miletus was alive.

Undoubtedly, this is a great reflection that helps us to understand the meaning of life, to live in the present, to enjoy the moment and above all, to feel with these words from Thales of Miletus, as if he were a thinker of our time. Which of these phrases did you like the most?