Pythagoras

c. 570 – c. 490 BC · Greek philosopher of Samos and Croton

Pythagoras was one of the most famous and most argued-over early Greek philosophers. He spent his early years on Samos and later moved to Croton in southern Italy, where most of his philosophical work took place. He wrote nothing, and no one in his own lifetime wrote a detailed account of his thought. In the centuries after him, much later Pythagorean writing was credited to him, which is why so many “Pythagoras quotes” are really school doctrine or later inventions.

Traced to source

4 quotes we’ve traced to Pythagoras

“Educate the children and it won't be necessary to punish the men”

Disputed

“The oldest, shortest words — yes and no — are those which require the most thought”

Disputed

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

Disputed

“Virtue is harmony”

Disputed

Not actually Pythagoras

Often misattributed to Pythagoras

Famous lines widely pinned on Pythagoras that we’ve traced to someone else.

“Educate the children and it won't be necessary to punish the men”

actually Origin unknown

“Virtue is harmony”

actually Unknown

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