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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.
Socrates -
A painter will paint a cobbler, carpenter, or any other artist, though he knows nothing of their arts; and, if he is a good artist, he may deceive children or simple persons, when he shows them his picture of a carpenter from a distance, and they will fancy that they are looking at a real carpenter.
Socrates
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For this fear of death is indeed the pretense of wisdom, and not real wisdom, being the appearance of knowing the unknown; since no one knows whether death, which they in their fear apprehend to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good.
Socrates -
Whenever a number of individuals have a common name, we assume them to have also a corresponding idea or form.
Socrates -
To use words and phrases in an easygoing manner without scrutinizing them too curiously is not in general a mark of ill-breeding. On the contrary, there is something low-bred in being too precise. But sometimes there is no help for it.
Socrates -
They are not only idle who do nothing, but they are idle also who might be better employed.
Socrates -
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.
Socrates -
Do not grieve over someone who changes all of the sudden. It might be that he has given up acting and returned to his true self.
Socrates
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If a man comes to the door of poetry untouched by the madness of the Muses, believing that technique alone will make him a good poet, he and his sane compositions never reach perfection, but are utterly eclipsed by the performances of the inspired madman.
Socrates -
If you would seek health, look first to the spine.
Socrates -
Just as you ought not to attempt to cure eyes without head or head without body, so you should not treat body without soul.
Socrates -
Are you not ashamed of your eagerness to possess as much wealth, reputation, and honors as possible, while you do not care for nor give thought to wisdom or truth, or the best possible state of your soul?
Socrates -
Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of - for credit is like fire; when once you have kindled it you may easily preserve it, but if you once extinguish it, you will find it an arduous task to rekindle it again. The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.
Socrates -
We are in fact convinced that if we are ever to have pure knowledge of anything, we must get rid of the body and contemplate things by themselves with the soul by itself. It seems, to judge from the argument, that the wisdom which we desire and upon which we profess to have set our hearts will be attainable only when we are dead and not in our lifetime.
Socrates
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If the whole world depends on today's youth, I can't see the world lasting another 100 years.
Socrates -
To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge. For a man who claims to have knowledge, while actually knowing nothing, is less smarter than you, who claim to know nothing.
Socrates -
Man's life is like a drop of dew on a leaf.
Socrates -
May I consider the wise man rich, and may I have such wealth as only the self-restrained man can bear or endure.
Socrates -
Whatever authority I may have rests solely on knowing how little I know.
Socrates -
You think that upon the score of fore-knowledge and divining I am infinitely inferior to the swans. When they perceive approaching death they sing more merrily than before, because of the joy they have in going to the God they serve.
Socrates
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Whom do I call educated? First, those who manage well the circumstances they encounter day by day. Next, those who are decent and honorable in their intercourse with all men, bearing easily and good naturedly what is offensive in others and being as agreeable and reasonable to their associates as is humanly possible to be... those who hold their pleasures always under control and are not ultimately overcome by their misfortunes... those who are not spoiled by their successes, who do not desert their true selves but hold their ground steadfastly as wise and sober - minded men.
Socrates -
I am confident that there truly is such a thing as living again, that the living spring from the dead, and that the souls of the dead are in existence.
Socrates -
Do it because it's in your heart. Not because you want something in return. Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.
Socrates -
There are beds and tables in the world - plenty of them, are there not? But there are only two ideas or forms of them - one the idea of a bed, the other of a table.
Socrates