“By convention sweet is sweet, bitter is bitter, hot is hot, cold is cold, color is color; but in truth there are only atoms and the void. (trans. Durant 1939), Ch. XVI, §II, p. 353; citing C. Bakewell, Sourcebook in Ancient Philosophy , New York, 1909, "Fragment O" (Diels), p. 60”
More by Democritus
“δοκεῖ δὲ αὐτῶι τάδε· ἀρχὰς εἶναι τῶν ὅλων ἀτόμους καὶ κενόν, τὰ δ'ἀλλα πάντα νενομίσθαι [δοξάζεσθαι]. ( Diogenes Laërtiu…”
“The first principles of the universe are atoms and empty space; everything else is merely thought to exist.…”
“Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.…”