— Thales of MiletusReported in Diogenes Laertius 1.35, in a story about his indifference to death; approximate English rendering
Commentary
This reply, recorded in the anecdote in which Thales is asked why he does not die and answers that there is no difference, presents death as a continuation of the same condition as life, and it expresses a calm indifference to mortality. The anecdote belongs to the biographical tradition of the sages and is best read as a characterisation rather than a doctrine. A. A. Long notes that stories of this kind served to present the philosopher as a figure of equanimity, a theme that reappears in later Hellenistic ethics. G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven, and M. Schofield observe that the anecdote is preserved only in late sources and may reflect the conventions of philosophical biography. Charles Kahn suggests that the Milesian natural philosophy, which treated the cosmos as a continuous process of change, might have encouraged such a view, though the saying does not develop it. Jonathan Barnes treats the anecdote as legendary in its details. The English is approximate, and the source should be consulted before quotation.
Commentary
This reply, recorded in the anecdote in which Thales is asked why he does not die and answers that there is no difference, presents death as a continuation of the same condition as life, and it expresses a calm indifference to mortality. The anecdote belongs to the biographical tradition of the sages and is best read as a characterisation rather than a doctrine. A. A. Long notes that stories of this kind served to present the philosopher as a figure of equanimity, a theme that reappears in later Hellenistic ethics. G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven, and M. Schofield observe that the anecdote is preserved only in late sources and may reflect the conventions of philosophical biography. Charles Kahn suggests that the Milesian natural philosophy, which treated the cosmos as a continuous process of change, might have encouraged such a view, though the saying does not develop it. Jonathan Barnes treats the anecdote as legendary in its details. The English is approximate, and the source should be consulted before quotation.