Gorgias of Leontines (485 – 380 B.C.) was a renowned sophist philosopher of Ancient Greece. He was a student of another outstanding thinker, Empedocles, from whom he gathered a lot of knowledge and developed his theories.

Gorgias lived more than 105 years and wandered around the cities as a teacher of young aristocrats . Plato himself wrote a work on the thought of Gorgias of Leontines, entitled Gorgias or On Rhetoric, in which he defines the oratorical art of Gorgias as weak and submissive to the counterarguments of Socrates.

Famous phrases of Lions Gorgias

His fundamental position in philosophy is that of “nothing exists,” that is, he arrived at a series of logical reasonings that led him to a radical skepticism about his own existence.

His work includes several treatises on rhetoric and philosophy manuals that were widely acclaimed in his time. In today’s article we will pay tribute to this Greek philosopher by recalling the best phrases of Gorgias .

1. The power of the word in relation to the affairs of the soul is in the same relation to the power of drugs in relation to the affairs of the body.

Parallelism that underlines the benefits of oral reflection to calm the doubts of our mind.

2. Victories over enemies deserve hymns, those over brothers and friends funeral songs.

We should not compete against those who appreciate us.

3. The self is dark without the appearance; the appearance is inconsistent without the self.

Reflection of Gorgias of an essentialist nature.

4. My life is a garland to which we will adjust the last rose [death].

Sad sentence about each individual’s last breath.

5. An opponent’s seriousness must be disarmed by laughter and laughter by seriousness.

Offering the reverse side of the enemy’s behavior is the solution.

6. Not beauty, but a woman’s good reputation should be known to many.

What is admirable about a woman is not her genetics, but her choices and ethical courage.

7. Thought is that thing that with a small body knows how to achieve divine things.

Cognition, arising from a brain of just a few pounds, is capable of lifting buildings and cathedrals.

8. The speakers are similar to frogs: they croak in the water; they on the court stand.

Metaphor about the great masters of rhetoric.

9. And if the persuasive discourse deceived his soul, it is not therefore difficult to defend it and absolve it of its responsibility, thus: Discourse is a great power, which through the smallest and most secret body performs the most divine works; for it can stop fear and mitigate pain and produce joy and make mercy abound.

Great reflection that synthesizes both the depth of his philosophical beliefs and the cunning and skill of his writing.

10. Nothing is; if anything were, it could not be understood; and if it could be understood, it could not be communicated to others.

In this sentence, Gorgias summarizes his position on the non-existence of matter.

11. The man who is wrong shows more justice than the man who is not.

To err can be a way of showing oneself to be human.

12. Men who neglect philosophy while occupied with banal matters are like the Pretenders (in The Odyssey), who desired Penelope but slept with their maids.

According to this sentence of Gorgias, the upright man is the one who keeps respect for his aspirations.

13. I answer you, Socrates, that the art of rhetoric is the ability to persuade in the courts of justice and in other assemblies, and about the just and the unjust.

Argumentation with a luxury contertulum: the philosopher Socrates.