Socrates Quotes

All I know is that I know nothing.

Public Key

npub1s0cra5735s8ccw7pfvqtp4see7t7lkfr0gwrfhkhsfakuxkf5ahs83023h

NIP-05 Address

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsg8up760g6gruv80q5kq9s6cvul9l0my3h58p5mmtcy7mwrty6wmcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds7rhc5x

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1s0cra5735s8ccw7pfvqtp4see7t7lkfr0gwrfhkhsfakuxkf5ahs83023h

Show more details

Last Notes

2026-05-18 09:21:03 CEST

"Through your rags I see your vanity."

2026-05-11 09:21:03 CEST

"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 ..."

2026-05-09 21:21:03 CEST

"And now we go, you to your lives, and I to death, and which of us goes to the better only God knows"

2026-05-09 09:21:02 CEST

"From the deepest desires often comes the deadliest hate."

2026-05-08 21:21:02 CEST

"And so they grow richer and richer, and the more they think of making a fortune the less they think of virtue; for when riches and virtue are placed together in the scales of the balance, the one always rises as the other falls."

2026-05-06 21:21:03 CEST

"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..."

2026-05-05 09:21:02 CEST

"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?"

2026-05-03 21:21:03 CEST

"The hottest love has the coldest end."

2026-05-03 09:21:03 CEST

"Thou should eat to live; not live to eat."

2026-05-01 09:21:02 CEST

"True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us."

2026-04-29 21:21:02 CEST

"Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart's desire; the other is to get it."

2026-04-29 09:21:03 CEST

"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."

2026-04-28 21:21:02 CEST

"All I know is that I know nothing."

2026-04-26 21:21:02 CEST

"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."

2026-04-26 09:21:03 CEST

"Be nicer than necessary to everyone you meet. Everyone is fighting some kind of battle."

2026-04-24 09:21:02 CEST

"And in knowing that you know nothing makes you the smartest of all."

2026-04-23 21:21:02 CEST

"All I know is that I know nothing."

2026-04-20 21:21:02 CEST

"Beauty is a short-lived tyranny."

2026-04-19 09:21:03 CEST

"The hottest love has the coldest end."

2026-04-17 21:21:03 CEST

"Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity."

2026-04-16 21:21:03 CEST

"Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel."

2026-04-16 09:21:03 CEST

"It is better to change an opinion than to persist in a wrong one."

2026-04-15 09:21:02 CEST

"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."

2026-04-14 21:21:02 CEST

"The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms."

2026-04-06 21:21:02 CEST

"To be is to do."

2026-04-06 09:21:02 CEST

"And now we go, you to your lives, and I to death, and which of us goes to the better only God knows"

2026-04-05 21:21:03 CEST

"I will not yield to any man contrary to what is right, for fear of death, even if I should die at once for not yielding."

2026-04-05 09:21:02 CEST

"How can you wonder your travels do you no good, when you carry yourself around with you?"

2026-04-04 21:21:02 CEST

"For the poet is a light and winged and holy thing, and there is no invention in him until he has been inspired and is out of his senses, and the mind is no longer in him: when he has not attained to this state, he is powerless and is unable to utter his oracles."

2026-04-04 09:21:02 CEST

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

2026-04-03 21:21:03 CEST

"My plainness of speech makes them hate me, and what is their hatred but a proof that I am speaking the truth."

2026-04-03 09:21:02 CEST

"I honor and love you: but why do you who are citizens of the great and mighty nation care so much about laying up the greatest amount of money and honor And reputation, and so little amount wisdom and truth and the greatest improvement of the soul? Re you not ashamed of these?... I do nothing but go about persuading you all, not to take thought for your persons and your properties, but first and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul. I tell you that virtue is not given by more, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man."

2026-04-02 21:21:02 CEST

"And a thing is not seen because it is visible, but; conversely, visible because it is seen; nor is a thing led because; it is in the state of being led, or carried because it is in the; state of being carried, but the converse of this. And now I think, Euthyphro, that my meaning will be intelligible; and my; meaning is, that any state of action or passion implies previous; action or passion. It does not become because it is becoming, but it is in a state of becoming because it becomes; neither; does it suffer because it is in a state of suffering, but it is in a; state of suffering because it suffers. Do you not agree?"

2026-04-02 09:21:02 CEST

"God would seem to indicate to us and not allow us to doubt that these beautiful poems are not human or the work of man, but divine and the work of God; and that the poets are only the interpreters of the Gods..."

2026-04-01 21:21:09 CEST

"Prefer knowledge to wealth, for the one is transitory, the other perpetual"

2026-04-01 09:21:06 CEST

"Beauty is a short-lived tyranny."

2026-03-31 21:21:05 CEST

"I only wish that ordinary people had an unlimited capacity for doing harm; then they might have an unlimited power for doing good."

2026-03-31 09:21:12 CEST

"We cannot live better than in seeking to become better."

2026-03-30 21:21:12 CEST

"The misuse of language induces evil in the soul."

2026-03-30 09:21:02 CEST

"Beware the barrenness of a busy life."

2026-03-29 21:21:03 CEST

"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."

2026-03-29 09:21:02 CEST

"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."

2026-03-28 20:21:02 CET

"I will not yield to any man contrary to what is right, for fear of death, even if I should die at once for not yielding."

2026-03-28 08:21:02 CET

"As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which course he will, he will be sure to repent."

2026-03-27 20:21:03 CET

"To express one badly is not only faulty as far as the language goes, but does some harm to the soul."

2026-03-27 08:21:03 CET

"The law presumably says that it is finest to keep as quiet as possible in misfortunes and not be irritated, since the good and bad in such things aren't plain, nor does taking it hard get one anywhere, not are any of the human things worthy of great seriousness.... One must accept the fall of the dice and settle one's affairs accordingly-- in whatever way argument declares would be best. One must not behave like children who have stumbled and who hold on to the hurt place and spend their time in crying out; rather one must always habituate the soul to turn as quickly as possible to curing and setting aright what has fallen and is sick, doing away with lament by medicine."

2026-03-26 20:21:03 CET

"Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people."

2026-03-26 08:21:02 CET

2026-03-25 20:21:02 CET

"Neither in war nor yet at law ought any man to use every way of escaping death. For often in battle there is no doubt that if a man will throw away his arms, and fall on his knees before his pursuers, he may escape death; and in other dangers there are other ways of escaping death, if a man is willing to say and do anything. The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death."

2026-03-25 08:21:02 CET

"The great honor in the world is to be what we pretend to be"

2026-03-24 20:21:02 CET

"Beloved Pan and all other gods, who haunt this place, give me beauty in the inward soul, and may the outward and the inner man be at one."

2026-03-24 08:21:02 CET

"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."

2026-03-23 20:21:02 CET

"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."

2026-03-23 08:21:02 CET

"I thought that as I had failed in the contemplation of true existence, I ought to be careful that I did not lose the eye of my soul; as people may injure their bodily eye by observing and gazing on the sun during an eclipse, unless they take the precaution of looking at the image reflected in the water, or in some similar medium. ...I was afraid that my soul might be blinded altogether if I looked at things with my eyes or tried by the help of my senses to apprehend them. And I thought that I had better had recourse to ideas, and seek in them truth in existence. I dare to say that the simile is not perfect--for I am far from admitting that he who contemplates existence through the medium of ideas, sees them only "through a glass darkly," any more than he who sees them in their working and effects."

2026-03-22 20:21:03 CET

"Beware the barrenness of a busy life."

2026-03-22 08:21:02 CET

"Beware the barrenness of a busy life."

2026-03-21 20:21:03 CET

"The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms."

2026-03-21 08:21:03 CET

"Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers."

2026-03-20 20:21:02 CET

"And the same things look bent and straight when seen in water and out of it, and also both concave and convex, due to the sight's being mislead by the colors, and every sort of confusion of this kind is plainly in our soul. And, then, it is because they take advantage of this affection in our nature that shadow painting, and puppeteering, and many other tricks of the kind fall nothing short of wizardry."

2026-03-20 08:21:02 CET

"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?"

2026-03-19 20:21:02 CET

"Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart's desire; the other is to get it."

2026-03-19 08:21:06 CET

"My plainness of speech makes them hate me, and what is their hatred but a proof that I am speaking the truth."

2026-03-18 20:21:02 CET

"The mind is everything; what you think you become"

2026-03-18 08:21:02 CET

"Do not trouble about those who practice philosophy, whether they are good or bad; but examine the thing itself well and carefully. And if philosophy appears a bad thing to you, turn every man from it, not only your sons; but if it appears to you such as I think it to be, take courage, pursue it, and practice it, as the saying is, 'both you and your house."

2026-03-17 20:21:02 CET

"He who is not contended with what he has would not be contended with what he would like to have."

2026-03-17 08:21:02 CET

"The true champion of justice, if he intends to survive even for a short time, must necessarily confine himself to private life and leave politics alone."

2026-03-16 20:21:02 CET

"Beloved Pan and all other gods, who haunt this place, give me beauty in the inward soul, and may the outward and the inner man be at one."

2026-03-16 08:21:02 CET

"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."

2026-03-15 20:21:02 CET

"From the deepest desires often comes the deadliest hate."

2026-03-15 08:21:02 CET

"If you want to be a good saddler, saddle the worst horse; for if you can tame one, you can tame all."

2026-03-14 20:21:03 CET

"Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down."

2026-03-14 08:21:02 CET

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new."

2026-03-13 20:21:02 CET

"Envy is the ulcer of the soul."

2026-03-13 08:21:02 CET

"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."

2026-03-12 20:21:02 CET

"The misuse of language induces evil in the soul"

2026-03-12 08:21:02 CET

"Beloved Pan and all other gods, who haunt this place, give me beauty in the inward soul, and may the outward and the inner man be at one."

2026-03-11 20:21:03 CET

"Prefer knowledge to wealth, for the one is transitory, the other perpetual"

2026-03-11 08:21:02 CET

"The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be."

2026-03-10 20:21:02 CET

"I only wish that ordinary people had an unlimited capacity for doing harm; then they might have an unlimited power for doing good."

2026-03-10 08:21:02 CET

"In all of us, even in good men, there is a lawless wild-beast nature, which peers out in sleep."

2026-03-09 20:21:03 CET

"Children nowadays are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers."

2026-03-09 08:21:02 CET

"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."

2026-03-08 20:21:02 CET

2026-03-08 08:21:02 CET

"The greatest blessing granted to mankind come by way of madness, which is a divine gift."

2026-03-07 20:21:02 CET

"May the inward and outward man be as one."

2026-03-07 08:21:02 CET

"He is rich who is content with the least; for contentment is the wealth of nature."

2026-03-06 20:21:03 CET

"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."

2026-03-06 08:21:02 CET

"My friend...care for your psyche...know thyself, for once we know ourselves, we may learn how to care for ourselves."

2026-03-05 20:21:02 CET

"Be as you wish to seem."

2026-03-05 08:21:02 CET

"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."

2026-03-04 20:21:02 CET

"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."

2026-03-04 08:21:02 CET

"Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel."

2026-03-03 20:21:03 CET

"How many things can I do without?"

2026-03-03 08:21:02 CET

"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."

2026-03-02 20:21:02 CET

"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."

2026-03-02 08:21:02 CET

2026-03-01 20:21:02 CET

"My friend...care for your psyche...know thyself, for once we know ourselves, we may learn how to care for ourselves"

2026-03-01 08:21:02 CET

"The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less."

2026-02-28 20:21:03 CET

"The easiest and noblest way is not to be crushing others, but to be improving yourselves."

2026-02-28 08:21:02 CET

"I only wish that ordinary people had an unlimited capacity for doing harm; then they might have an unlimited power for doing good."