Socrates Quotes
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Do you suppose that I should have lived as long as I have if I had moved in the sphere of public life, and conducting myself in that sphere like an honorable man, had always upheld the cause of right, and conscientiously set this end above all other things? Not by a very long way, gentlemen; neither would any other man.
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If what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all.
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It is never right to do wrong or to requite wrong with wrong, or when we suffer evil to defend ourselves by doing evil in return.
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What a lot of things there are a man can do without.
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Virtue is the nursing-mother of all human pleasures, who, in rendering them just, renders them also pure and permanent; in moderating them, keeps them in breath and appetite; in interdicting those which she herself refuses, whets our desires to those that she allows; and, like a kind and liberal mother, abundantly allows all that nature requires, even to satiety, if not to lassitude.
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I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.
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Fellow citizens, why do you burn and scrape every stone to gather wealth and take so little care of your children to whom you must one day relinquish all?
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If we pursue our habit of eating animals, and if our neighbour follows a similar path, will we need to go to war against our neighbour to secure greater pasturage, because ours will not be enough to sustain us, and our neighbour will have a similar need to wage war on us for the same reason.
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A man can no more make a safe use of wealth without reason than he can of a horse without a bridle.
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The greatest flood has the soonest ebb; the sorest tempest the most sudden calm; the hottest love the coldest end; and from the deepest desire oftentimes ensues the deadliest hate.
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Wars, factions, and fighting, have no other origin than this same body and its lusts... We must set the soul free from it; we must behold things as they are. And having thus got rid of the foolishness of the body, we shall be pure and hold converse with the pure, and shall in our own selves have complete knowledge of the Incorruptible which is, I take it, no other than the very truth.
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Marry or marry not, in any either case you'll regret it.
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Slanderers do not hurt me because they do not hit me.
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Do not be angry with me if I tell you the truth.
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Living or dead, to a good man there can come no evil.
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So you would rather suffer an injustice than do an injustice?
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It has been shown that to injure anyone is never just anywhere.
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I must first know myself, as the Delphian inscription says; to be curious about that which is not my concern, while I am still in ignorance of my own self, would be ridiculous. And therefore I bid farewell to all this; the common opinion is enough for me. For, as I was saying, I want to know not about this, but about myself: am I a monster more complicated and swollen with passion than the serpent Typho, or a creature of a gentler and simpler sort, to whom Nature has given a diviner and lowlier destiny?
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All that I know is nothing - I'm not even sure of that.
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Wealth does not bring about excellence, but excellence brings about wealth and all other public and private blessings for men.
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Since I am convinced that I wrong no one, I am not likely to wrong myself.
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Our purpose in founding the city was not to make any one class in it surpassingly happy, but to make the city as a whole as happyas possible.
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...in the acquisition of this blessing human nature can find no better helper than Love. I declare that it is the duty of every man to honour Love, and I honour and practice the mysteries of Love in an especial degree myself, and recommend the same to others, and I praise the power and valour of Love to the best of my ability both now and always.
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It is best and easiest not to discredit others but to prepare oneself to be as good as possible.