Top 140 Pythagoras Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Number rules the universe.”

— Pythagoras

Featured in: Universe Quotes, Math Quotes, Quotes About Numbers

2. “Learn to be silent. Let your quiet mind listen and absorb.”

— Pythagoras

3. “The highest goal of music is to connect one’s soul to their Divine Nature, not entertainment.”

— Pythagoras

4. “Man know thyself; then thou shalt know the Universe and God.”

— Pythagoras

5. “As long as man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other.”

— Pythagoras

Featured in: Health Quotes, Quotes About Veganism

6. “No one is free who has not obtained the empire of himself. No man is free who cannot command himself.”

— Pythagoras

Featured in: Focus On Yourself Quotes, Willpower Quotes

7. “God built the universe on numbers.”

— Pythagoras

Featured in: Quotes About Numbers

8. “In anger we should refrain both from speech and action.”

— Pythagoras

Featured in: Anger Quotes

9. “No man is free who cannot control himself.”

— Pythagoras

Featured in: Willpower Quotes

10. “Be silent or let thy words be worth more than silence.”

— Pythagoras

Featured in: Silence Quotes

11. “Concern should drive us into action and not into a depression. No man is free who cannot control himself.”

— Pythagoras

Featured in: Stoic Philosophy Quotes

12. “Silence is better than unmeaning words.”

— Pythagoras

13. “It is better to be silent, than to dispute with the Ignorant.”

— Pythagoras

14. “The oldest, shortest words – ‘yes’ and ‘no’ – are those which require the most thought.”

— Pythagoras

Featured in: Thought Provoking Quotes

15. “Learn silence. With the quiet serenity of a meditative mind, listen, absorb, transcribe, and transform.”

— Pythagoras

16. “Do not go to bed until you have gone over the day three times in your mind. What wrong did I do? What good did I accomplish? What did I forget to do?”

— Pythagoras

17. “There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres.”

— Pythagoras

18. “Number is the ruler of forms and ideas, and the cause of gods and demons.”

— Pythagoras

19. “The wise man should be prepared for everything that does not lie within his control.”

— Pythagoras

20. “Rest satisfied with doing well, and leave others to talk of you as they please.”

— Pythagoras

21. “The beginning of every government starts with the education of our youth.”

— Pythagoras

22. “Number is the within of all things.”

— Pythagoras

23. “If there be light, then there is darkness; if cold, heat; if height, depth; if solid, fluid; if hard, soft; if rough, smooth; if calm, tempest; if prosperity, adversity; if life, death.”

— Pythagoras

24. “If you’re asked: What is the silence? Respond: It is the first stone of the Wisdom’s temple.”

— Pythagoras

25. “A stone is frozen music.”

— Pythagoras

26. “Each celestial body, in fact each and every atom, produces a particular sound on account of its movement, its rhythm or vibration. All these sounds and vibrations form a universal harmony in which each element, while having it’s own function and character, contributes to the whole.”

— Pythagoras

27. “Above the cloud with its shadow is the star with its light. Above all things reverence thyself.”

— Pythagoras

28. “Some are slaves of ambition or money, but others are interested in understanding life itself. These give themselves the name of philosophers, and they value the contemplation and discovery of nature beyond all other pursuits.”

— Pythagoras

29. “Reason is immortal, all else mortal.”

— Pythagoras

30. “But respect yourself most of all.”

— Pythagoras

31. “Let exercise alternate with rest.”

— Pythagoras

32. “Geometry is knowledge of the eternally existent.”

— Pythagoras

33. “Friendship is one soul in two bodies.”

— Pythagoras

34. “Educate the children and it won’t be necessary to punish the men.”

— Pythagoras

35. “The stars in the heavens sing a music, if only we had ears to hear.”

— Pythagoras

36. “Don’t try to cover your mistakes with false words. Rather, correct your mistakes with examination.”

— Pythagoras

37. “None but God is wise.”

— Pythagoras

38. “Salt is born of the purest parents: the sun and the sea.”

— Pythagoras

39. “A thought is an idea in transit.”

— Pythagoras

40. “Music is the harmonization of opposites; the conciliation of warring elements.”

— Pythagoras

41. “Astonishing! Everything is intelligent!”

— Pythagoras

42. “Wisdom, thoroughly learned, will never be forgotten.”

— Pythagoras

43. “Choose rather to be strong of soul than strong of body.”

— Pythagoras

44. “Time is the soul of this world.”

— Pythagoras

45. “Lust weakens both body and mind.”

— Pythagoras

46. “Choose always the way that seems the best, however rough it may be; custom will soon render it easy and agreeable.”

— Pythagoras

47. “Truth is so great a perfection, that if God would render himself visible to men, he would choose light for his body and truth for his soul.”

— Pythagoras

48. “There is a good principle which created order, light, and man, and an evil principle which created chaos, darkness, and woman.”

— Pythagoras

49. “There is no word or action but has its echo in Eternity.”

— Pythagoras

50. “The soul of man is divided into three parts, intelligence, reason, and passion. Intelligence and passion are possessed by other animals, but reason by man alone.”

— Pythagoras