40 Best Zeno of Citium Quotes on Life, Happiness & Reason

In this post, we’ll read Zeno of Citium quotes who was an ancient Greek philosopher and founder of the Stoic school of philosophy.

Zeno (334 BCE – 262 BCE) was a merchant, but after a shipwreck led him to Athens, he became interested in philosophy. Later, Zeno began teaching his own philosophy and his teachings attracted a following and that eventually formed the basis of the Stoic school of thought. The name “Stoicism” comes from the Stoa Poikile, where Zeno and his followers would gather.

He taught that virtue (moral excellence) is the only true good and that it is sufficient for happiness while everything else, such as wealth, health, and pleasure, is considered indifferent or secondary. He emphasized to focus on what one can control and accept what one cannot change and to master one’s emotions.

Let’s read some of the best Zeno of Citium quotes based on stoicism and philosophy.

Table of Contents

Best Zeno of Citium Quotes

1. “We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.”

2. “Wellbeing is attained by little and little, and nevertheless is no little thing itself.”

3. “He who is greedy is always in want.”

4. “Man conquers the world by conquering himself.”

5. “No loss should be more regrettable to us than losing our time, for it’s irretrievable.”

6. “Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue.”

7. “Man seems to be deficient in nothing so much as he is in time.”

8. “Nothing is more hostile to a firm grasp on knowledge than self-deception.”

9. “Extravagance is its own destroyer.”

Zeno of Citium Quotes on Life

1. “Steel your sensibilities, so that life shall hurt you as little as possible.”

2. “The goal of life is living in agreement with Nature.”

3. “All things are parts of one single system, which is called nature; the individual life is good when it is in harmony with nature.”

4. “The end may be defined as life in accordance with nature or, in other words, in accordance with our own human nature as well as that of the universe.”

5. “Our individual life is a part of the entire cosmos, governed by the universal reason, logos.”

6. “No evil is honorable: but death is honorable; therefore death is not evil.”

Zeno of Citium Quotes on Happiness

1. “Happiness is a good flow of life.”

2. “It is in virtue that happiness consists, for virtue is the state of mind which tends to make the whole of life harmonious.”

3. “Man’s proper work is the practice of the virtues, which alone produce happiness.”

Zeno of Citium Quotes on Reason

1. “Follow where reason leads.”

2. “Fate is the endless chain of causation, whereby things are; the reason or formula by which the world goes on.”

3. “That which exercises reason is more excellent than that which does not exercise reason; there is nothing more excellent than the universe, therefore the universe exercises reason.”

4. “A bad feeling is a commotion of the mind repugnant to reason, and against nature.”

5. “If you lay violent hands on me, you’ll have my body, but my mind will remain with Stilpo.”

Philosophy Zeno of Citium Quotes

1. “Fortune bids me to follow philosophy with fewer encumbrances.”

2. “No one entrusts a secret to a drunken man; but one will entrust a secret to a good man; therefore, the good man will not get drunk.”

3. “No matter whether you claim a slave by purchase or capture, the title is bad. They who claim to own their fellow-men, look down into the pit and forget the justice that should rule the world.”

4. “Why, then, seeing that the universe gives birth to beings that are animate and wise, should it not be considered animate and wise itself?”

5. “Nature must be followed.”

6. “When a dog is tied to a cart, if it wants to follow, it is pulled and follows, making its spontaneous act coincide with necessity. But if the dog does not follow, it will be compelled in any case. So it is with men too: even if they don’t want to, they will be compelled to follow what is destined.”

7. “If being is many, it must be both like and unlike, and this is impossible, for neither can the like be unlike, nor the unlike like.”

8. “Love is a God, who cooperates in securing the safety of the city.”

Zeno of Citium Quotes on Virtues

1. “All the good are friends of one another.”

2. “A friend is our alter ego.”

3. “The avaricious man is like the barren, sandy ground of the desert, which sucks in all the rain and dews with greediness, but yields no fruitful herbs or plants for the benefit of others.”

4. “We should not spoil what we have by desiring what we have not; but remember that what we now have was once among the things we only hoped for.”

5. “No one entrusts a secret to a drunken man; but one will entrust a secret to a drunken man; therefore, the good man will not get drunk.”

These Zeno of Citium quotes focus on being rational and striving to maintain inner peace and tranquility by mastering the emotions and desires through reason.

His teachings laid the foundation for Stoicism, which became one of the most influential schools of philosophy in the ancient world. His ideas were further developed by later Stoic philosophers such as Cleanthes, Chrysippus, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius.

Which of these Zeno of Citium left an impact on you?

Also Read: