Socrates Quotes
-
Wisdom belongs in wonder.
-
As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which course he will, he will be sure to repent.
-
No citizen has any right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training; it is part of his profession as a citizen to keep himself in good condition... It is a disgrace for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and the strength of which his body is capable.
-
Happiness is unrepented pleasure.
-
Marry a good woman, and be happy the rest of your life. Or, marry a bad, and become a good philosopher.
-
Whenever, therefore, people are deceived and form opinions wide of the truth, it is clear that the error has slid into their minds through the medium of certain resemblances to that truth.
-
If thou continuous to take delight in idle argumentation thou mayest be qualified to combat with the sophists, but will never know how to live with men.
-
The warm love has the coldest end.
-
Nobody knows what death is, nor whether to man it is perchance the greatest of blessings, yet people fear it as if they surely knew it to be the worse of evils.
-
I am that gadfly which God has attached to the state, and all day long and in all places am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you.
-
Wisdom is knowing what you don't know.
-
Nobody is qualified to become a statesman who is entirely ignorant of the problem of wheat.
-
Knowledge is our ultimate good.
-
If one knows what is right, he will do it; nobody wants to be evil.
-
An unexamined life is a life of no account.
-
The end of life is to be like unto God; and the soul following God, will be like unto Him; He being the beginning, middle, and end of all things.
-
The easiest and noblest way is not to be crushing others, but to be improving yourselves.
-
You too must be of good hope as regards death, gentlemen of the jury, and keep this one truth in mind, that a good man cannot be harmed either in life or in death, and that his affairs are not neglected by the gods. What has happened to me now has not happened of itself, but it is clear to me that it was better for me to die now and to escape from trouble. That is why my divine sign did not oppose me at any point. So I am certainly not angry with those who convicted me, or with my accusers. Of course that was not their purpose when they accused and convicted me, but they thought they were hurting me, and for this they deserve blame.
-
No one can teach, if by teaching we mean the transmission of knowledge, in any mechanical fashion, from one person to another. The most that can be done is that one person who is more knowledgeable than another can, by asking a series of questions, stimulate the other to think, and so cause him to learn for himself.
-
Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.
-
Most people, including ourselves, live in a world of relative ignorance. We are even comfortable with that ignorance, because it is all we know. When we first start facing truth, the process may be frightening, and many people run back to their old lives. But if you continue to seek truth, you will eventually be able to handle it better. In fact, you want more! It's true that many people around you now may think you are weird or even a danger to society, but you don't care. Once you've tasted the truth, you won't ever want to go back to being ignorant.
-
I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul.
-
True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing. And in knowing that you know nothing, that makes you the smartest of all.
-
Since all of us desire to be happy, and since we evidently become so on account of our use — that is our good use — of other things, and since knowledge is what provides this goodness of use and also good fortune, every man must, as seems plausible, prepare himself by every means for this: to be as wise as possible. Right?