Apollonius of Tyana quotes

Apollonius of Tyana was an ancient Greek philosopher and mystic, often associated with the Pythagorean tradition. Renowned for his wisdom and miraculous deeds, he traveled extensively throughout the Roman Empire and the East. He became a legendary figure, and his life inspired both admiration and debate among scholars and devotees. Here are 14 of his quotes:

Plato said that virtue has no master. If a person does not honor this principle and rejoice in it, but is purchasable for money, he creates many masters for himself.

Apollonius of Tyana

If someone gives money to Apollonius, and the giver is someone considered respectable, he will take the money if he needs it. But he will not accept a fee for philosophy even if he does need it.

Apollonius of Tyana

Make yourself known as a philosopher, that is a free man.

Apollonius of Tyana

To speak falsely is the mark of a slave, but the truth is noble.

Apollonius of Tyana

In my judgment excellence and wealth are direct opposites.

Apollonius of Tyana

You request my presence at the Olympic Games, and for that reason you have sent envoys. For myself, I would come for the spectacle of physical struggle, except that I would be abandoning the greater struggle for virtue.

Apollonius of Tyana

I saw the Indian Brahmans living on the earth and not on it, walled without walls, and with no possessions except the whole world.

Apollonius of Tyana

Greet your son Aristocleides from me. I pray he may not turn out like you, since you, too, were once an irreproachable young man.

Apollonius of Tyana

Approve and pursue the kind that is in accordance with nature. But avoid the kind that claims to be inspired: people like that about tell lies about Gods, and urge us to do many foolish things.

Apollonius of Tyana

The soul that does not consider the question of the body's self-sufficiency cannot make itself self-sufficient.

Apollonius of Tyana

The natural philosopher Heraclitus said that man is naturally irrational. If this is true, as it is true, then everyone who enjoys futile glory should hide his face.

Apollonius of Tyana

[Some] disobey the earth and sharpen knives against the animals to gain clothing and food. The Indian Brahmans disapproved of this personally and taught the Naked Philosophers of Egypt to disapprove of it too. From there Pythagoras, who was the first Greek to associate with Egyptians, borrowed the principle. He let the earth keep living creatures, but held that what the earth grows is pure, and so lived off that because it was sufficient to feed body and soul. Clothing made from dead creatures, which most people wear, he considered impure; he dressed in linen and, for the same reason, made his shoes of plaited bark. He derived many advantages from this purity, above all that of perceiving his own soul.

Apollonius of Tyana