Powerful Socrates Quotes
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. Socrates
The unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates
Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued. Socrates
I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think. Socrates
Beauty is a short lived tyranny. Socrates
There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance. Socrates
Beware the barrenness of a busy life. Socrates
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Socrates
True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing. Socrates
Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people. Socrates
The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. Socrates
Wonder is the beginning of wisdom. Socrates
Wisdom begins in wonder. Socrates
To find yourself, think for yourself. Socrates
Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live. Socrates
Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel. Socrates
Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for. 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. Socrates
Let him that would move the world first move himself. Socrates
He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have. Socrates
I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live. Socrates
Be slow to fall into friendship, but when you are in, continue firm and constant. 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. Socrates
If you don’t get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don’t want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can’t hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is law and no amount of pretending will alter that reality. Socrates
Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us. Socrates
The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers. Socrates
The end of life is to be like God, and the soul following God will be like Him. Socrates
Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down. Socrates
The poets are only the interpreters of the gods. Socrates
No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable. Socrates
I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing. Socrates
The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less. 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. Socrates
Let him who would move the world first move himself. Socrates
He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature. Socrates
Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty. Socrates
The unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates
Death may be the greatest of all human blessings. Socrates
All men’s souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine. Socrates
Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for. Socrates
He is a man of courage who does not run away, but remains at his post and fights against the enemy. Socrates
The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our separate ways, I to die, and you to live. Which of these two is better only God knows. Socrates
Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant. Socrates
The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance. Socrates
No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death. He and his are not neglected by the gods. Socrates
Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others. Socrates
It is not living that matters, but living rightly. Socrates
Every action has its pleasures and its price. Socrates
From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate. Socrates
Prefer knowledge to wealth, for the one is transitory, the other perpetual. Socrates
The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. Socrates
We cannot live better than in seeking to become better. Socrates
If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it. Socrates
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. Socrates
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. Socrates
Beware the barrenness of a busy life. Socrates
As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which course he will, he will be sure to repent. Socrates
Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart’s desire; the other is to get it. Socrates
Where there is reverence there is fear, but there is not reverence everywhere that there is fear, because fear presumably has a wider extension than reverence. Socrates
I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing. Socrates
To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge. Socrates
True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us. Socrates
Be as you wish to seem. Socrates
The greatest way to live with honour in this world is to be what we pretend to be. Socrates
True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us. Socrates
To fear death, gentlemen, is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does not know. No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man, yet men fear it as if they knew that it is the greatest of evils. Socrates
Death may be the greatest of all human blessings. Socrates
From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate. Socrates
Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior. Socrates
Be nicer than necessary to everyone you meet. Everyone is fighting some kind of battle. Socrates
An honest man is always a child. Socrates
My friend care for your psyche know thyself, for once we know ourselves, we may learn how to care for ourselves. Socrates
A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true. Socrates
If you want to be a good saddler, saddle the worst horse; for if you can tame one, you can tame all. Socrates
I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance. Socrates
One should never do wrong in return, nor mistreat any man, no matter how one has been mistreated by him. Socrates
False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil. Socrates
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
One who is injured ought not to return the injury, for on no account can it be right to do an injustice; and it is not right to return an injury, or to do evil to any man, however much we have suffered from him. 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 a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. Socrates
I only wish that ordinary people had an unlimited capacity for doing harm; then they might have an unlimited power for doing good. Socrates
The really important thing is not to live, but to live well. And to live well meant, along with more enjoyable things in life, to live according to your principles. Socrates
Beauty is the bait which with delight allures man to enlarge his kind. Socrates
The easiest and noblest way is not to be crushing others, but to be improving yourselves. Socrates
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. 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. 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. Socrates
In all of us, even in good men, there is a lawless wild-beast nature, which peers out in sleep. Socrates
Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions; but those who kindly reprove thy faults. Socrates
The greatest blessing granted to mankind come by way of madness, which is a divine gift. Socrates
Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat. Socrates
Children nowadays are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannise their teachers. Socrates
Only the extremely ignorant or the extremely intelligent can resist change. Socrates
Be of good cheer about death, and know this of a truth, that no evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death. Socrates
The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. Socrates
My advice to you is get married: if you find a good wife you’ll be happy; if not, you’ll become a philosopher. Socrates
The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. Socrates
Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions; but those who kindly reprove thy faults. Socrates
Wisdom begins in wonder. Socrates
Esteemed friend, citizen of Athens, the greatest city in the world, so outstanding in both intelligence and power, aren’t you ashamed to care so much to make all the money you can, and to advance your reputation and prestige while for truth and wisdom and the improvement of your soul you have no care or worry? Socrates
When the debate is over, slander becomes the tool of the loser. Socrates
All men’s souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine. Socrates
The hour of departure has arrived and we go our ways; I to die, and you to live. Which is better? Only God knows. Socrates
The highest realms of thought are impossible to reach without first attaining an understanding of compassion. Socrates
Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us. Socrates
The mind is everything; what you think you become. Socrates
Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for. 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. Socrates
From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate. Socrates
Virtue does not come from wealth, but wealth, and every other good thing which men have comes from virtue. Socrates
Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty. Socrates
He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god. Socrates
Call no man unhappy until he is married. Socrates
The only thing I know is that I know nothing, and i am no quite sure that i know that. Socrates
Let him that would move the world, first move himself. Socrates
God takes away the minds of poets, and uses them as his ministers, as he also uses diviners and holy prophets, in order that we who hear them may know them to be speaking not of themselves who utter these priceless words in a state of unconsciousness, but that God himself is the speaker, and that through them he is conversing with us. Socrates
