Frag. B 17, quoted in John Burnet's Early Greek Philosophy, (1920), Chapter 6.
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The Greeks follow a wrong usage in speaking of coming into being and passing away; for nothing comes into being or passes away, but there is mingling and separation of things that are. So they would be right to call coming into being mixture, and passing away separation.

— Anaxagoras

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The Greeks follow a wrong usage in speaking of coming into being and passing away; for nothing comes into being or passes away, but there is mingling and separation of things that are. So they would be right to call coming into being mixture, and passing away separation." in the context of "Frag. B 17, quoted in John Burnet's Early Greek Philosophy, (1920), Chapter 6." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Anaxagoras" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Anaxagoras

About Anaxagoras

Anaxagoras (c. 500 BC – 428 BC) was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Clazomenae in Asia Minor. He introduced the concept of Nous (Mind), as an ordering force in the cosmos. He regarded material substance as an infinite multitude of imperishable primary elements, referring all generation and disappearance to mixture and separation respectively.