Have you ever found yourself seeking guidance in a complex and ever-changing world? Look no further than the wisdom of Socrates, the legendary ancient Greek philosopher whose thought-provoking insights continue to inspire and challenge us even millennia after his death. As the father of Western philosophy, Socrates’ enigmatic teachings have been passed down through the ages. His messages and quotes influenced countless generations of thinkers and seekers.
Today, we will explore the timeless wisdom of Socrates through a curated collection of 59 of his most profound and influential quotes. Get ready to delve into the mind of this remarkable figure, whose radical ideas about ethics, knowledge, and the nature of reality continue to shape our understanding of the world and our place within it. Whether you’re a seasoned philosopher or a curious newcomer, these thought-provoking quotes by Socrates will surely spark introspection, reflection, and perhaps even a bit of self-improvement.
I hope you enjoy these quotes by Socrates…
1) “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
2) “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.” – Socrates
3) “Be as you wish to seem.” – Socrates
4) “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” – Socrates
5) “Beauty is a short-lived tyranny.” – Socrates
6) “The beginning of wisdom is a definition of terms.” – Socrates
7) “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” – Socrates
8) “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
9) “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.” – Socrates
Traditional values…
10) “The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.” – Socrates
11) “Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.” – Socrates
12) “Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.” – Socrates
13) “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
14) “Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.” – Socrates
15) “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” – Socrates
16) “Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.” – Socrates
17) “Envy is the ulcer of the soul.” – Socrates
18) “Every action has its pleasure and its price.” – Socrates
19) “Get not your friends by bare compliments, but by giving them sensible tokens of your love.” – Socrates
Quotes by Socrates on Happiness.
20) “He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.” – Socrates
21) “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
22) “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.” – Socrates
23) “If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it.” – Socrates
24) “To know is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.” – Socrates
25) “I know that I am intelligent because I know that I know nothing.” – Socrates
26) “Let him who would move the world first move himself.” – Socrates
27) “Life is full of questions. Idiots are full of answers.” – Socrates
28) “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
29) “To move the world, we must first move ourselves.” – Socrates
Hold on to good and faithful friends…
30) “There is no possession more valuable than a good and faithful friend.” – Socrates
31) “Nothing is so well learned as that which is discovered.” – Socrates
32) “Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior.” – Socrates
33) “I only wish that ordinary people had an unlimited capacity for doing harm; then they might have an unlimited power for doing good.” – Socrates
34) “Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us.” – Socrates
35) “True perfection is a bold quest to seek. Only the willing and true of heart will seek the betterment of many.” – Socrates
36) “Prefer knowledge to wealth, for the one is transitory, the other perpetual.” – Socrates
37) “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 gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” – Socrates
38) “Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity.” – Socrates
39) “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates
Famous Quotes by Socrates
40) “Slanderers do not hurt me because they do not hit me.” – Socrates
41) “Be slow to fall into friendship, but when you are in, continue firm and constant.” – Socrates
42) “Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.” – Socrates
43) “Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” – Socrates
44) “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” – Socrates
45) “There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.” – Socrates
46) “They are not only idle who do nothing, but they are idle also who might be better employed.”
47) “Those who are hardest to love need it the most.” – Socrates
48) “Know thyself.” – Socrates
49) “To find yourself, think for yourself.” – Socrates
Quotes by Socrates on Life
50) “True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.” – Socrates
51) “Understanding a question is half an answer.” – Socrates
52) “The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates
53) “I was afraid that by observing objects with my eyes and trying to comprehend them with each of my other senses I might blind my soul altogether.” – Socrates
54) “Well I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of; but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance. At any rate it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know.” – Socrates
55) “What a lot of things there are a man can do without.” – Socrates
56) “When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.” – Socrates
57) “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
58) “He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.” – Socrates
59) “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” – Socrates
Please share these quotes by Socrates with your friends and family.
