Asked at the Olympic Games which of the three kinds of attendee he was — the competitor chasing glory, the merchant chasing profit, or the spectator chasing entertainment — Pythagoras answered that he was none of them; he was there to watch. From that he named a new category: φιλόσοφος, the lover of wisdom.

He seeks to uncover the secrets of nature. This is the man I call a philosopher for although no man is completely wise in all respects, he can love wisdom as the key to nature’s secrets.