Socrates Quotes

"I desire only to know the truth and to live as well as I can... And, to the utmost of my power, I exhort all other men to do the same... I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict."

2026-07-15 19:21:03 UTC

"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."

2026-07-15 07:21:03 UTC

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

2026-07-14 19:21:02 UTC

"How many things can I do without?"

2026-07-14 07:21:04 UTC

"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?"

2026-07-13 07:21:03 UTC

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

2026-07-11 07:21:03 UTC

"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."

2026-07-10 19:21:02 UTC

"Living well and beautifully and justly are all one thing."

2026-07-09 19:21:03 UTC

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

2026-07-09 07:21:02 UTC

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

2026-07-07 07:21:02 UTC

"The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our separate ways, me to die, and you to live. Which of these two is better? Only God knows."

2026-07-05 07:21:03 UTC

"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."

2026-07-03 07:21:02 UTC

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

2026-07-01 19:21:02 UTC

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

2026-06-30 19:21:02 UTC

"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."

2026-06-29 19:21:03 UTC

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

2026-06-28 19:21:03 UTC

"Human nature will not easily find a better helper than Eros"

2026-06-28 07:21:02 UTC

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

2026-06-26 07:21:02 UTC

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

2026-06-24 07:21:03 UTC

"I am not an Athenian nor a Greek, but a citizen of the world."

2026-06-23 19:21:03 UTC

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

2026-06-22 07:21:03 UTC

"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?"

2026-06-21 07:21:03 UTC

"null"

2026-06-20 19:21:03 UTC

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

2026-06-18 07:21:03 UTC

"I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of philosophy, exhorting anyone whom I meet after my manner, and convincing him, saying: O my friend, why do you who are a citizen of the great and mighty and wise city of Athens, care so much about laying up the greatest amount of money and honor and reputation, and so little about wisdom and truth and the greatest improvement of the soul, which you never regard or heed at all? Are you not ashamed of this?"

2026-06-17 07:21:03 UTC

"To be is to do."

2026-06-16 07:21:02 UTC

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

2026-06-15 07:21:03 UTC

"Human nature will not easily find a better helper than Eros"

2026-06-12 19:21:03 UTC

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

2026-06-11 07:21:03 UTC

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

2026-06-09 07:21:02 UTC

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

2026-06-08 19:21:03 UTC

"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."

2026-06-08 07:21:03 UTC

"Understanding a question is half an answer."

2026-06-07 19:21:03 UTC

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

2026-06-03 07:21:03 UTC

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

2026-05-30 07:21:03 UTC

"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."

2026-05-29 19:21:03 UTC

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

2026-05-28 07:21:03 UTC

"My advice to you is getting married: if you find a good wife you'll be happy; if not, you'll become a philosopher."

2026-05-23 19:21:02 UTC

"Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior."

2026-05-23 07:21:04 UTC

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

2026-05-22 19:21:02 UTC

"Human nature will not easily find a better helper than Eros."

2026-05-21 07:21:02 UTC

"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."

2026-05-20 07:21:02 UTC

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

2026-05-19 19:21:03 UTC

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

2026-05-19 07:21:03 UTC

"Those who are hardest to love need it the most."

2026-05-18 07:21:03 UTC

"Through your rags I see your vanity."

2026-05-16 07:21:02 UTC

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

2026-05-15 07:21:02 UTC

"Human nature will not easily find a better helper than Eros."

2026-05-11 07:21:03 UTC

"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 ..."

2026-05-10 07:21:04 UTC

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

2026-05-09 19:21:03 UTC

"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 07:21:02 UTC

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

2026-05-08 19:21:02 UTC

"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 19:21:03 UTC

"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 19:21:03 UTC

"Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others."

2026-05-05 07:21:02 UTC

"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 19:21:03 UTC

"The hottest love has the coldest end."

2026-05-03 07:21:03 UTC

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

2026-05-01 07:21:02 UTC

"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 19:21:02 UTC

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

2026-04-29 07:21:03 UTC

"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 19:21:02 UTC

"All I know is that I know nothing."

2026-04-26 19:21:02 UTC

"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 07:21:03 UTC

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

2026-04-24 07:21:02 UTC

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

2026-04-23 19:21:02 UTC

"All I know is that I know nothing."

2026-04-20 19:21:02 UTC

"Beauty is a short-lived tyranny."

2026-04-19 07:21:03 UTC

"The hottest love has the coldest end."

2026-04-17 19:21:03 UTC

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

2026-04-16 19:21:03 UTC

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

2026-04-16 07:21:03 UTC

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

2026-04-15 07:21:02 UTC

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

2026-04-14 19:21:02 UTC

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

2026-04-14 07:21:02 UTC

2026-04-06 19:21:02 UTC

"To be is to do."

2026-04-06 07:21:02 UTC

"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 19:21:03 UTC

"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 07:21:02 UTC

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

2026-04-04 19:21:02 UTC

"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 07:21:02 UTC

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

2026-04-03 19:21:03 UTC

"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 07:21:02 UTC

2026-04-02 19:21:02 UTC

"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 07:21:02 UTC

"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 19:21:09 UTC

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

2026-04-01 07:21:06 UTC

"Beauty is a short-lived tyranny."

2026-03-31 19:21:05 UTC

"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 07:21:12 UTC

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

2026-03-30 19:21:12 UTC

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

2026-03-30 07:21:02 UTC

"Beware the barrenness of a busy life."

2026-03-29 19:21:03 UTC

"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 07:21:02 UTC

"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 19:21:02 UTC

"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 07:21:02 UTC

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

2026-03-27 19:21:03 UTC

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

2026-03-27 07:21:03 UTC

"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 19:21:03 UTC

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

2026-03-26 07:21:02 UTC

2026-03-25 19:21:02 UTC

"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."