Socrates Quotes

“How many things are there which I do not want.”

“Ordinary people seem not to realize that those who really apply themselves in the right way to philosophy are directly and of their own accord preparing themselves for dying and death.”

“Before the birth of Love, many fearful things took place through the empire of necessity; but when this god was born, all things rose to men.”

“If all misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own and depart.”

“I soon realized that poets do not compose their poems with knowledge, but by some inborn talent and by inspiration, like seers and prophets who also say many fine things without any understanding of what they say.”

“What a lot of things I don't need.”

“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.”

“The beginning is the most important part, especially when dealing with anything young and tender.”

“There's no good answer to a question you didn't hear”

“The bad one is that way because of the ignorance, therefore he can be healed with wisdom.”

“Antiphon, as another man gets pleasure from a good horse, or a dog, or a bird, I get even more pleasure from good friends. And if I have something good, I teach it to them, and I introduce them to others who will be useful to them with respect to virtue. And together with my friends I go through the treasures of wise men of old which they left behind written in books, and we peruse them. If we see something good, we pick it out and hold it to be a great profit, if we are able to prove useful to one another.”

“Fame is the perfume of heroic deeds.”

“Nobody knows anything, but I, knowing nothing, am the smartest man in the world.”

“Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.”

“I prefer to be refuted than to refute, for it is a greater good for oneself to be freed from the greatest evil than to free another.”

“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.”

“As for me, all I know is I know nothing.”

“If you want to be wrong then follow the masses.”

“Not by wisdom do they [poets] make what they compose, but by a gift of nature and an inspiration similar to that of the diviners and the oracles.”

“Be of good cheer about death and know this as a truth, that no evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death”

“For who is there but you? - who not only claim to be a good man and a gentleman, for many are this, and yet have not the power of making others good. Whereas you are not only good yourself, but also the cause of goodness in others.”

“So you would rather suffer an injustice than do an injustice?”

“By far the greatest and most admirable form of wisdom is that needed to plan and beautify cities and human communities.”

“I shall never fear or avoid things of which I do not know.”

“It is the greatest good for an individual to discuss virtue (aka areté) every day...for the unexamined life is not worth living.”

“Get not your friends by bare compliments but by giving them sensible tokens of your love.”

“The greatest of all mysteries is the man himself.”

“To give either to any public matter of interest or to any concern of my own, but I am in utter poverty by reason of my devotion to the god .”

“Wind buffs up empty bladders; opinion, fools.”

“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.”

“The more I learn, the less I realize I know.”

“One who is injured ought not to return the injury, for on no account can it be right to do an injustice.”

“Obligation sends the children to bed on time, but love tucks the covers in around their necks and passes out kisses and hugs. Yesterday is about experience; tomorrow is about hope; today is about transitioning from one to the other. The happiest people on earth don't have the best of everything... they make the best of everything I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.”

“Let us follow the truth whither so ever it leads.”

“All that I know is nothing - I'm not even sure of that.”

“What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?”

“Virtue does not come from wealth, but wealth, and every other good thing which men have comes from virtue.”

“Living well and beautifully and justly are all one thing.”

“Malice drinketh up the greater part of its own poison.”

“A multitude of books distracts the mind.”

“Fear of women love more than hate the man.”

“If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it.”

“Whoever would have his body supple, easy and healthful should learn to dance.”

“The duller eye may often see a thing sooner than the keener.”

“Marry or marry not, in any either case you'll regret it”

“If you will be guided by me, you will make little account of Socrates, and much more of truth.”

“In every sort of danger there are various ways of winning through, if one is ready to do and say anything whatever.”

“The man who is truly wise knows that he knows very little.”

“Get married, in any case. If you happen to get a good mate, you will be happy; if a bad one, you will become philosophical, which is a fine thing in itself.”

“I desire only to know the truth, and to live as well as I can...And, to the utmost of my power, I exhort all other men to do the same...I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict.”