Socrates (470–399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought.
Here is A selection of some of Socrates most famous quotes. Socrates Quotes on Life, Love, Knowledge, Wisdom and Philosophy. Socrates Quotes Gym. Quotes on Intelligence, Education, Success and Self by Socrates.
Socrates Quotes and Sayings
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.
Falling down is not a failure. Failure comes when you stay where you have fallen.
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.
The unexamined life is not worth living.
Beware the barrenness of a busy life.
I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.
Understanding a question is half an answer.
There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.
Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart’s desire; the other is to get it.
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
The hottest love has the coldest end.
Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.
Envy is the ulcer of the soul.
Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.
Be as you wish to seem.
To find yourself, think for yourself.
I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.
Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.
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.
The greatest way to live with honour in this world is to be what we pretend to be.
He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.
True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.
Be slow to fall into friendship, but when you are in, continue firm and constant.
From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate.
Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.
Be nicer than necessary to everyone you meet. Everyone is fighting some kind of battle.
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.
Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior.
The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.
My friend... care for your psyche... know thyself, for once we know ourselves, we may learn how to care for ourselves
Know thyself.
If you want to be a good saddler, saddle the worst horse; for if you can tame one, you can tame all.
Let him who would move the world first move himself.
The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms.
Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.
I pray Thee, O God, that I may be beautiful within.
Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.
One should never do wrong in return, nor mistreat any man, no matter how one has been mistreated by him.
Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.
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.
Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.
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.
I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
The easiest and noblest way is not to be crushing others, but to be improving yourselves.
Every action has its pleasures and its price.
He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.
Prefer knowledge to wealth, for the one is transitory, the other perpetual.
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.
We cannot live better than in seeking to become better.
In all of us, even in good men, there is a lawless wild-beast nature, which peers out in sleep.
Is it true; is it kind, or is it necessary?
Those who are hardest to love need it the most.
All I know is that I do not know anything.
I only know that I know nothing.
Children nowadays are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannise their teachers.
The greatest blessing granted to mankind come by way of madness, which is a divine gift.
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.
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.
Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions; but those who kindly reprove thy faults.
Give me beauty in the inward soul; may the outward and the inward man be at one.
My advice to you is get married: if you find a good wife you'll be happy; if not, you'll become a philosopher.
There is no greater evil one can suffer than to hate reasonable discourse.
All men's souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine.
Are you not ashamed of caring so much for the making of money and for fame and prestige, when you neither think nor care about wisdom and truth and the improvement of your soul?
The highest realms of thought are impossible to reach without first attaining an understanding of compassion.
Well, although I do not suppose that either of us know anything really beautiful & good, I am better off than he is- for he knows nothing & thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know.
To be is to do.
My plainness of speech makes them hate me, and what is their hatred but a proof that I am speaking the truth.
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.
To express oneself badly is not only faulty as far as the language goes, but does some harm to the soul.
The mind is everything; what you think you become
He is not only idle who does nothing, but he is idle who might be better employed.
To move the world we must move ourselves.
Beauty is a short-lived tyranny.
To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.
The ancient Oracle said that I was the wisest of all the Greeks. It is because I alone, of all the Greeks, know that I know nothing.
Virtue does not come from wealth, but wealth, and every other good thing which men have comes from virtue.
It is a disgrace to grow old through sheer carelessness before seeing what manner of man you may become by developing your bodily strength and beauty to their highest limit.
I know you won't believe me, but the highest form of Human Excellence is to question oneself and others.
Be true to thine own self.
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.
May the inward and outward man be as one.
There is no solution; seek it lovingly.
Wealth does not bring about excellence, but excellence makes wealth and everything else good for men, both individually and collectively.
Through your rags I see your vanity.
The more I know, the more I realize I know nothing.
The misuse of language induces evil in the soul.
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.
Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued.
Now the hour to part has come. I go to die, you go to live. Which of us goes to the better lot is known to no one, except the god.
The only thing I know is that I know nothing, and i am no quite sure that i know that.
As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which course he will, he will be sure to repent.
It is better to change an opinion than to persist in a wrong one.
Such as thy words are such will thine affections be esteemed and such as thine affections will be thy deeds and such as thy deeds will be thy life.
When you want wisdom and insight as badly as you want to breathe, it is then you shall have it.
Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity.
Intelligent individuals learn from every thing and every one; average people, from their experiences. The stupid already have all the answers.
Mankind is made of two kinds of people: wise people who know they're fools, and fools who think they are wise.
Living well and beautifully and justly are all one thing.
The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.
If you want to be wrong then follow the masses.
When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.
Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.
In every person there is a sun. Just let them shine.
The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is a habit.
False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.
There is no possession more valuable than a good and faithful friend.
Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us.
Sometimes you have to let go to see if there was anything worth holding onto.
If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it.
Silence is a profound melody, for those who can hear it above all the noise.
An honest man is always a child.
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