Hryhorii Skovoroda (1722-1794), also Gregory Skovoroda or Grigory Skovoroda was a philosopher of Ukrainian Cossack origin who lived and worked in the Russian Empire. He was a poet, a teacher and a composer of liturgical music. [Українська] [Русский]
Hryhorii Skovoroda Quotes
He is not happy who wants better, but who is satisfied with what he has.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
Mind did not come from books, but books came from mind.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
Ice is born to melt.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
A completely dead human soul, deprived of its natural work, is like muddy and stinking water, confined in a tight space.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
A demon does not testify against a demon, a wolf does not eat wolf meat.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
If it is a great thing to rule over bodies, it is even greater to rule over souls.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
Determine the taste not by the shell, but by the core.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
Good fame is better than soft pie.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
It is characteristic of a madman to regret what he has lost and not to be happy about what remains.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
Know the invisible from the visible.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
Truth burns and destroys all elements, showing that they are only a shadow of it.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
For those who are low in spirit, the best of what is written and said becomes the worst.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
A nut without a kernel is nothing, just like a person without a heart.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
It is very rightly said: he who has no enemies also has no friends.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
The crown of praise is old age.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
Everything passes, but not God and not love.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
A good start is half done.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
Bliss will be where passions are tamed, not their absence.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
To see a wallet and not know what is in it means, seeing, not seeing. Obviously, it is necessary to look twice everywhere: take one into the soul, and the other into the mind.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
Water without fish, air without birds, time without people cannot exist.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
Was there ever a friendship between misers?
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
Even the wise man often stumbles.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
When a fish is caught, it no longer needs a lure.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
Our life is a journey, and a friendly conversation is a cart that makes the traveler's way easier.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
Everything passes, but love remains after everything.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
Cheerfulness is the health of a harmonious soul. A soul affected by some vice cannot be cheerful.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
Without desire, everything is difficult, even the easiest thing.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
To be happy means to know, to find oneself.
— Hryhoriy Skovoroda
You have nothing to fear from the machinations of those people who belong to a deceitful and vain world. They can’t reach a beautiful bird soaring in the sky. What’s her name? Is it truth? Love? Eternity? Yes, eternity. The bustling world can’t keep up with eternity, it better see it doesn’t lose itself!
—Hryhorii Skovoroda
Spiritual acts for tyrants are worse than bodily ones. A thief will be pardoned sooner than a righteous man who is strong in spirit.
—Hryhorii Skovoroda