Some of my favorite quotes

On Greed

"Kallikles: The best life is enjoyed by the man who lets his desires

and passions grow as ravening and insatiable as they can, and takes

care that he has always present the means of gratifying them.

Socrates: Compare the soul of such a person to a sieve, because

this kind of soul cannot hold anything and thus can never be full with

a finite and limited amount of things."

From Plato's Gorgias

On Wealth and Human Needs

Rich is not one with great wealth but one with few needs; and poor is not one with little wealth but one with many needs.

St. Augustine

On Uncertainty

"Prefer what appears to be impossible but probable to that which

although possible is improbable."

Aristotle

On the Importance of Math

"No one ignorant of geometry may enter."

Sign outside Plato's Academy

"If I had only more mathematics."

Einstein at his death bed

On Reasoning and Inquiry

"First principles, even if they appear certain, should be carefully

considered; and when they are satisfactorily ascertained, then, with

a sort of hesitating confidence in human reason, you may, I think,

follow the course of the argument; and if that be plain and clear,

there will be no need for any further inquiry."

Socrates speaking in Plato's Phaedo

On Theory and Observation

"The facts have not yet been sufficiently established. If ever they are,

then credit must be given to observation rather than to theory, and

to theory only in so far as they are confirmed by the observed facts."

Aristotle