Socrates Quotes

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

"The best way to avoid a bad reputation is to live a good life."

"Justice is the excellence of the soul."

"The unexamined life is not worth living."

"To give a real answer, one must be honest with oneself."

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

"Falling down is not a failure. Failure comes when you stay where you have fallen."

"He who is not a good servant will not be a good master."

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."

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

"Let him who would move the world first move himself."

"To find yourself, think for yourself."

"False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil."

"Envy is the ulcer of the soul."

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

"Death may be the greatest of all human blessings."

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

"I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world."

"I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing."

"Wonder is the beginning of wisdom."

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

"Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for."

"The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear."

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

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

"Be as you wish to seem."

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

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

"One who is injured ought not to return the injury, for on no account can it be right to do an injustice."

"The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways - I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows."

"Justice is the only thing that should be considered when acting."

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

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