They were people like anyone else. They just stopped, thought, and left behind a few remarkable ideas.
585–528 BC
Pre-Socratic
Air as arché — the first principle of all things
121–180 AD
Stoicism
The dichotomy of control — distinguish what is yours from what is not
535–475 BC
Panta rhei — everything flows, nothing stands still
428–348 BC
Platonic
Theory of Forms — the real is eternal and immaterial
4 BC–65 AD
Time is the only true possession — guard it
624–546 BC
Water as arché — the primary substance
50–135 AD
The dichotomy of control — the foundation of freedom
1207–1273 AD
Sufism
Divine love as the engine of the cosmos
106–43 BC
Otium — the value of philosophical leisure
204–270 AD
Neoplatonism
The One — source of all being, beyond being itself
570–495 BC
Pythagorean
Number as the underlying structure of reality
480–524 AD
Late Antique Platonism
Fortune is constant only in her inconstancy
65–8 BC
Roman Lyric
Carpe diem — seize the day, because tomorrow is not promised
84–54 BC
Roman Neoteric
The lyric self as a legitimate philosophical subject
354–430 AD
Christian Platonism
The interior life as the true site of philosophy
556–468 BC
Lyric
The method of loci — memory as spatial architecture
750–650 BC
Archaic Greek
Work as the foundation of human dignity