20 Amazing Quotes From Socrates

Socrates (born c. 470 BCE, Athens [Greece]—died 399 BCE, Athens) is one of the most intellectually gifted men who ever lived and had a profound influence on ancient and modern philosophy. In his time he was basically a celebrity, being widely known throughout the Greek world. However, he was also highly controversial, as most people who rock the boat in societies often are. Since the masses usually mock what is beyond their comprehension, it’s no wonder he was the butt of many jokes and even mocked in plays. Despite this, he had admirers, such as the legendary Plato himself. At the age of 70, he was brought to trial and sentenced to death by a jury of his fellow citizens. He drank hemlock poison without hesitation and showed the utmost bravery in the face of certain death. The philosopher’s teachings would send a shockwave across the world that would echo throughout time and still be present till this day. Here are 20 of his most enlightening quotes.

1: “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”

2: “From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate.”

3: “I cannot teach anyone anything, I can only make them think.”

4: “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.”

5: “Let him that would move the world first move himself.”

6: “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.”

7: “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

8: “The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”

9: “Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant.”

10: “He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.”

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1: “He is a man of courage who does not run away, but remains at his post and fights against the enemy.”

12: “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.”

13: “Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.”

14: “I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live.”

15: “Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.”

16: “If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it.”

17: “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.”

18: “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.”

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

20: “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.”

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