Famous Socrates Quotations

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"He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have."
by Socrates
"Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued."
by Socrates
"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."
by Socrates
"Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty"
by Socrates
"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."
by Socrates
"The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear."
by Socrates
"Well I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of; but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance. At any rate it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know."
by Socrates
"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."
by Socrates
"Wisdom begins in wonder."
by Socrates
"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."
by Socrates
"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think."
by Socrates
"I was afraid that by observing objects with my eyes and trying to comprehend them with each of my other senses I might blind my soul altogether."
by Socrates
"But, my dearest Agathon, it is truth which you cannot contradict; you can without any difficulty contradict Socrates."
by Plato, in Symposium
"A library, to modify the famous metaphor of Socrates, should be the delivery room for the birth of ideas-a place where history comes to life."
by Norman Cousins
"And in knowing that you know nothing, that makes you the smartest of all."
by Socrates
"And what, Socrates, is the food of the soul? Surely, I said, knowledge is the food of the soul."
by Plato
"As for me, all I know is that I know nothing."
by Socrates
"Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live."
by Socrates
"Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live"
by Socrates
"Be as you wish to seem."
by Socrates
"Be slow to fall into friendship but when thou art in, continue firm and constant."
by Socrates
"Beauty is a short-lived tyranny"
by Socrates
"Beware the barrenness of a busy life."
by Socrates
"But already it is time to depart, for me to die, for you to go on living; which of us takes the better course, is concealed from anyone except God."
by Socrates
"By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher."
by Socrates
"By all means marry if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher."
by Socrates
"Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers."
by Socrates
"Death may be the greatest of all human blessings."
by Socrates
"Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others."
by Socrates
"Envy is the ulcer of the soul."
by Socrates
"Envy is the ulcer of the soul"
by Socrates
"Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for."
by Socrates
"Get not your friends by bare compliments, but by giving them sensible tokens of your love."
by Socrates
"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."
by Socrates
"Having the fewest wants, I am nearest to the gods."
by Socrates
"He is richest who is content with the least."
by Socrates
"He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature."
by Socrates
"He is richest who is content with the least"
by Socrates
"I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world."
by Socrates
"I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing. (Plato's Apology)"
by Socrates
"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. I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man, public as well as private. This is my teaching, and if this is the doctrine which corrupts the youth, I am a mischievous person."
by Socrates
"I don't know why I did it, I don't know why I enjoyed it, and I don't know why I'll do it again"
by Socrates
"I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing."
by Socrates
"I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance."
by Socrates
"I thought to myself, 'I am wiser than this man neither of us knows anything that is really worthwhile, but he thinks he has knowledge when he has not, while I, having no knowledge, do not think that I have. I seem, at any rate, to be a little wiser than he is on this point I do not think that I know what I do not know."
by Socrates
"I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live."
by Socrates
"If a rich man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it."
by Socrates
"If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it"
by Socrates
"If all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap, whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be content to take their own and depart"
by Socrates
"If thou continuest to take delight in idle argumentation thou mayest be qualified to combat with the sophists, but will never know how to live with men."
by Socrates
"Let him that would move the world first move himself"
by Socrates
"Living well and beautifully and justly are all one thing."
by Socrates
"Man's life is like a drop of dew on a leaf."
by Socrates
"My belief is that to have no wants is divine."
by Socrates
"My belief is that to have no wants is divine"
by Socrates
"My advice to you is to get married. If you find a good wife you'll be happy; if not you'll become a philosopher."
by Socrates
"My advice to you is to get married. If you find a good wife you'll be happy; if not you'll become a philosopher"
by Socrates
"My advice to you is get married if you find a good wife youll be happy if not, youll become a philosopher."
by Socrates
"Only the extremely ignorant or the extremely intelligent can resist change."
by Socrates
"Only the extremely ignorant or the extremely intelligent can resist change"
by Socrates
"Pythagoras, Locke, Socrates -- but pages might be filled up, as vainly as before, with the sad usage of all sorts of sages, who in his life-time, each was deemed a bore! The loftiest minds outrun their tardy ages."
by Lord Byron
"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."
by 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."
by Socrates
"Remember what is unbecoming to do is also unbecoming to speak of."
by Socrates
"Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity."
by Socrates
"Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity"
by Socrates
"Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity."
by Socrates
"Socrates seems to be the philosophical napkin with which the ensuing cultural thinkers of history wipe their mouths of pedantic ooze."
by Unknown
"Socrates called beauty a short-lived tyranny; Plato, a privilege of nature; Theophrastus, a silent cheat; Theocritus, a delightful prejudice; Carneades, a solitary kingdom; Aristotle, that it was better than all the letters of recommendation in the world; Homer, that it was a glorious gift of nature; and Ovid, that it was favor bestowed by the gods."
by Francis Quarles
"Sure, everyone always said 'Socrates what is the meaning of life?' or 'Socrates how can I find happiness?', did anyone ever say 'Socrates hemlock is poison.'???????'"
by Socrates minutes before death
"The difference between Socrates and Jesus? The great conscious and the immeasurably great unconscious."
by Thomas Carlyle
"The end of life is to be like God, and the soul following God will be like Him."
by Socrates
"The fewer our wants, the nearer we resemble the gods"
by Socrates
"The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be."
by Socrates
"The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don't like their rules whose would you use"
by Dale Carnegie
"The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways - I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows."
by Socrates
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."
by Socrates
"The right way to begin is to pay attention to the young, and make them just as good as possible"
by Socrates
"The shortest and surest way to live with honour in the world, is to be in reality what we would appear to be; and if we observe, we shall find, that all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice of them."
by Socrates
"The shortest and surest way to live with honour in the world, is to be in reality what we would appear to be and if we observe, we shall find, that all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice of them."
by Socrates
"The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be; all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice and experience of them."
by Socrates
"The unexamined life is not worth living."
by Socrates
"The unexamined life is not worth living to a human."
by Attributed by Plato to Socrates
"The unexamined life is not worth living for man."
by Socrates
"There is nothing more notable in Socrates than that he found time, when he was an old man, to learn music and dancing, and thought it time well spent."
by Michel de Montaigne
"There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance."
by Socrates
"There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance"
by Socrates
"Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions; but those who kindly reprove thy faults."
by Socrates
"Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions but those who kindly reprove thy faults."
by Socrates
"Thou shouldst eat to live not live to eat."
by Socrates
"To find yourself, think for yourself."
by Socrates
"To find yourself, think for yourself"
by Socrates
"True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing. And in knowing that you know nothing, that makes you the smartest of all."
by Socrates
"True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing."
by Socrates
"Virtue does not come from wealth, but. . . wealth, and every other good thing which men have. . . comes from virtue."
by Socrates
"What you cannot enforce, do not command"
by Socrates
"When desire, having rejected reason and overpowered judgment which leads to right, is set in the direction of the pleasure which beauty can inspire . . ."
by Socrates
"When the debate is over, slander becomes the tool of the loser."
by Socrates
"Wisdom begins in wonder"
by Socrates
"Wind puffs up empty bladders; opinion, fools"
by Socrates


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