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Socrates

ancient Athenian philosopher; teacher of Plato and Xenophon (470-399 BC)

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And in knowing that you know nothing, that makes you the smartest of all.
As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.
Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.
Be slow to fall into friendship but when thou art in, continue firm and constant.
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.
Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers.
Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.
Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.
Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.
Envy is the ulcer of the soul.
Get not your friends by bare compliments, but by giving them sensible tokens of your love.
Having the fewest wants, I am nearest to the gods.
He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.
He is richest who is content with the least.
He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.
I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing. (Plato's Apology)
I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.
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.
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.
I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.
I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.
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.
If a rich man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it.
Let him that would move the world, first move himself.
My advice to you is get married if you find a good wife youll be happy if not, youll become a philosopher.
My belief is that to have no wants is divine.
Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued.
Only the extremely ignorant or the extremely intelligent can resist change.
People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid.
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.
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.
Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity.
Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity.
Remember what is unbecoming to do is also unbecoming to speak of.
Science says 'We must live,' and seeks the means of prolonging, increasing, facilitating and amplifying life, of making it tolerable and acceptable, wisdom says 'We must die,' and seeks how to make us die well.
The end of life is to be like God, and the soul following God will be like him.
The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.
The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
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.
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.
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.
The unexamined life is not worth living.
The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.
There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.
Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions but those who kindly reprove thy faults.
Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions; but those who kindly reprove thy faults.
Thou shouldst eat to live not live to eat.
Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.
True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.
True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing. And in knowing that you know nothing, that makes you the smartest of all.
Virtue does not come from wealth, but. . . wealth, and every other good thing which men have. . . comes from virtue.
When the debate is over, slander becomes the tool of the loser.
Wind buffs up empty bladders; opinion, fools.
Wisdom begins in wonder.

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