Socrates, one of the greatest philosophers of all time, is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought.
Thought-provoking Socrates quotes have inspired generations and continue to challenge our insights today. His ageless words hold profound truths about life, knowledge, and our innate potential. will make you ponder over the mysteries of life, question your understanding of the world, and inspire you to seek truth and knowledge.
Best Socrates Quotes
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. Socrates
The unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates
I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing. Socrates
I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think. Socrates
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. Socrates
There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance. Socrates
Beware the barrenness of a busy life. Socrates
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Socrates
True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us. Socrates
Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people. Socrates
True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing. Socrates
Wonder is the beginning of wisdom. Socrates
He is a man of courage who does not run away, but remains at his post and fights against the enemy. Socrates
To find yourself, think for yourself. Socrates
Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live. Socrates
Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel. Socrates
The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. Socrates
He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have. Socrates
All men’s souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine. Socrates
Be slow to fall into friendship, but when you are in, continue firm and constant. Socrates
I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance. Socrates
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. Socrates
The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. Socrates
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. Socrates
Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for. Socrates
Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down. Socrates
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. Socrates
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. Socrates
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. Socrates
The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less. Socrates
Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued. Socrates
Let him who would move the world first move himself. Socrates
No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death. He and his are not neglected by the gods. Socrates
Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty. Socrates
If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it. Socrates
Death may be the greatest of all human blessings. Socrates
Beauty is the bait which with delight allures man to enlarge his kind. Socrates
The poets are only the interpreters of the gods. Socrates
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. Socrates
The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance. Socrates
I only wish that ordinary people had an unlimited capacity for doing harm; then they might have an unlimited power for doing good. Socrates
Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others. Socrates
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. Socrates
Every action has its pleasures and its price. Socrates
As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which course he will, he will be sure to repent. Socrates
Prefer knowledge to wealth, for the one is transitory, the other perpetual. Socrates
I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing. Socrates
We cannot live better than in seeking to become better. Socrates
To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge. Socrates
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. Socrates
Beauty is a short lived tyranny. Socrates
He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature. Socrates
Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart’s desire; the other is to get it. Socrates
Be as you wish to seem. Socrates
An honest man is always a child. Socrates
The hottest love has the coldest end. Socrates
Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior. Socrates
Wisdom begins in wonder. Socrates
The greatest way to live with honour in this world is to be what we pretend to be. Socrates
Let him that would move the world first move himself. Socrates
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. Socrates
Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us. Socrates
From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate. Socrates
It is not living that matters, but living rightly. Socrates
If you want to be a good saddler, saddle the worst horse; for if you can tame one, you can tame all. Socrates
The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms. Socrates
False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil. Socrates
I pray Thee, O God, that I may be beautiful within. Socrates
I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live. Socrates
One should never do wrong in return, nor mistreat any man, no matter how one has been mistreated by him. Socrates
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. Socrates
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. Socrates
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. Socrates
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. Socrates
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. Socrates
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. Socrates
The end of life is to be like God, and the soul following God will be like Him. Socrates
The easiest and noblest way is not to be crushing others, but to be improving yourselves. Socrates
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. Socrates
Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions; but those who kindly reprove thy faults. Socrates
Those who are hardest to love need it the most. Socrates
Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat. Socrates
In all of us, even in good men, there is a lawless wild-beast nature, which peers out in sleep. Socrates
Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live. Socrates
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. Socrates
I only know that I know nothing. Socrates
Only the extremely ignorant or the extremely intelligent can resist change. Socrates
The greatest blessing granted to mankind come by way of madness, which is a divine gift. Socrates
All I know is that I do not know anything. Socrates
Children nowadays are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannise their teachers. Socrates
People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid. Socrates
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. Socrates
When the debate is over, slander becomes the tool of the loser. Socrates
My advice to you is get married if you find a good wife you’ll be happy; if not, you’ll become a philosopher. Socrates
The hour of departure has arrived and we go our ways; I to die, and you to live. Which is better? Only God knows. Socrates
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? Socrates
Nature has given us two ears, two eyes, and but one tongue to the end that we should hear and see more than we speak. Socrates
The highest realms of thought are impossible to reach without first attaining an understanding of compassion. Socrates
Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for. Socrates
The mind is everything; what you think you become. Socrates
To move the world we must move ourselves. Socrates
The envious person grows lean with the fatness of their neighbor. Socrates
I know you won’t believe me, but the highest form of Human Excellence is to question oneself and others. Socrates
Call no man unhappy until he is married. Socrates
Virtue does not come from wealth, but wealth, and every other good thing which men have comes from virtue. Socrates
Let him that would move the world, first move himself. Socrates
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. Socrates
There is no solution; seek it lovingly. Socrates
The misuse of language induces evil in the soul. Socrates
The nearest way to glory is to strive to be what you wish to be thought to be. Socrates
The only thing I know is that I know nothing, and i am no quite sure that ı know that. Socrates
It is better to change an opinion than to persist in a wrong one. Socrates
Intelligent individuals learn from every thing and every one; average people, from their experiences. The stupid already have all the answers. Socrates
When you want wisdom and insight as badly as you want to breathe, it is then you shall have it. Socrates
Remember, no human condition is ever permanent. Then you will not be overjoyed in good fortune nor too scornful in misfortune. Socrates
And therefore if the head and the body are to be well, you must begin by curing the soul; that is the first and essential thing. And the care of the soul, my dear youth, has to be effected by the use of certain charms, and these charms are fair words; and by them temperance is implanted in the soul, and where temperance comes and stays, there health is speedily imparted, not only to the head, but to the whole body. Socrates
Mankind is made of two kinds of people wise people who know they’re fools, and fools who think they are wise. Socrates
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? Socrates
Get not your friends by bare compliments, but by giving them sensible tokens of your love. Socrates
Give me beauty in the inward soul; may the outward and the inward man be at one. Socrates
By all means marry. If you get a good spouse you’ll become happy, while if you get a bad one you’ll become a philosophe. Socrates
My plainness of speech makes them hate me, and what is their hatred but a proof that I am speaking the truth. Socrates
There is no greater evil one can suffer than to hate reasonable discourse. Socrates
If I save my insight, I don’t attend to weakness of eyesight. Socrates
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. Socrates
In childhood be modest, in youth temperate, in adulthood just, and in old age prudent. Socrates
To express oneself badly is not only faulty as far as the language goes, but does some harm to the soul. Socrates
Real wisdom is the property of God, and human wisdom has little or no value. Socrates
He is not only idle who does nothing, but he is idle who might be better employed. Socrates
No man undertakes a trade he has not learned, even the meanest; yet everyone thinks himself sufficiently qualified for the hardest of all trades, that of government. Socrates
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. Socrates
I would rather die having spoken after my manner, than speak in your manner and live. Socrates
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. Socrates
An education obtained with money is worse than no education at all. Socrates
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. Socrates
The triumph of my art is in thoroughly examining whether the thought which the mind of the young man brings forth is a false idol or a noble true birth. Socrates
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. Socrates
One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing. Socrates
Speak, so that I may see you. Socrates
May the inward and outward man be as one. Socrates
How many are the things I can do without! Socrates
Wealth does not bring about excellence, but excellence makes wealth and everything else good for men, both individually and collectively. Socrates
We gain our first measure of intelligence when we first admit our own ignorance. Socrates
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. Socrates
Nothing is to be preferred before justice. Socrates
Justice. If only we knew what it was. Socrates
Worthless people love only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live. Socrates