John D. Barrow, The Book of Nothing (2009) chapter one "Zero—The Whole Story" p. 40
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The Greek tradition was a complete contrast to that of the Far East. ...the Greeks placed logic at the pinnacle of human thinking. Their sceptical attitude towards the wielding of 'non-being' as some sort of 'something' that could be subject to logical development was exemplified by Parmenides'''' influential arguments against the concept of empty space. ...He maintained that you can only speak about what is: what is not cannot be thought of, and what cannot be thought of cannot be. ...more unexpected was the further conclusion that time, motion nor change could exist either.'''

— John D. Barrow on Parmenides

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The Greek tradition was a complete contrast to that of the Far East. ...the Greeks placed logic at the pinnacle of human thinking. Their sceptical attitude towards the wielding of 'non-being' as some sort of 'something' that could be subject to logical development was exemplified by Parmenides'''' influential arguments against the concept of empty space. ...He maintained that you can only speak about what is: what is not cannot be thought of, and what cannot be thought of cannot be. ...more unexpected was the further conclusion that time, motion nor change could exist either.'''" in the context of "John D. Barrow, The Book of Nothing (2009) chapter one "Zero—The Whole Story" p. 40" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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

About John D. Barrow

John David Barrow, FRS (November 29, 1952 – September 27, 2020) was an English cosmologist, theoretical physicist, mathematician, writer of popular science, and an amateur playwright.