What frees you from slavery is not wealth but needing nothing.

ἐλευθερωτής δουλείας οὐχ ὁ πλοῦτος, ἀλλὰ τὸ μηδενὸς δεῖσθαι.

Crates of Thebes

Philosophers

Crates of Thebes

Theban Cynic philosopher (c. 365-285 BC) who renounced wealth to live on the streets of Athens with his wife Hipparchia. Pupil of Diogenes, teacher of Zeno of Citium, and the bridge from Cynic asceticism to Stoicism.

View this figure's profile

Source: ディオゲネス・ラエルティオス『ギリシア哲学者列伝』第6巻第5章 (Loeb Classical Library訳)Verified

Crates of Thebes's Other Quotes

There is a city called Pera in the midst of the wine-dark fog of pretension.

What wealth is to the rich, philosophy is to the poor.

Crates with only his wallet and tattered cloak laughed out his life jocosely, as if he had been always at a festival.

Related Quotes

Exile is not an evil.

-- Gaius Musonius Rufus

Cato, while he lived, lived in such a way that he lacked nothing — so long as he was free to die.

-- Cato the Younger

What wealth is to the rich, philosophy is to the poor.

-- Crates of Thebes

Virtue is a matter of deeds, not words.

-- Antisthenes

If I were not Alexander, I would wish to be Diogenes.

-- Diogenes of Sinope

Stand a little out of my sunlight.

-- Diogenes of Sinope