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Socrates Quotes

20 quotes from Socrates — Greek philosopher considered the father of Western philosophy..

I know that I know nothing.

Knowledge

All thinking begins with wondering.

Inquiry

Whatever authority I may have rests solely on knowing how little I know.

Wisdom

Let the questions be the curriculum.

Education

To be is to do.

Existence

Know thyself.

Self-awareness

I don't care what people say about me. I do care about my mistakes.

Integrity

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

Change

The unexamined life is not worth living.

Reflection

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

Perseverance

Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued.

Value

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

Wisdom

I am wiser than this man; it is likely that neither of us knows anything worthwhile, but he thinks he knows something when he does not, whereas when I do not know, neither do I think I know; so I am likely to be wiser than he to this small extent, that I do not think I know what I do not know.

Socrates, in Plato's Apology

It's no longer fashionable to associate with Socrates and his hairsplitting twaddle, neglecting the craft of the tragedians.

Aristophanes, Frogs, lines 1491–99

Of all those we have known, he was the best, and also the wisest and the most upright.

Phaedo, in Plato's Phaedo, 118a

The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being.

Socrates, in Plato's Apology, 38a

I am the kind of man who listens to nothing but the argument that on reflection seems best to me.

Socrates, in Plato's Crito, 46b

Neither to do wrong or to return a wrong is ever right, not even to injure in return for an injury received.

Socrates, in Plato's Crito, 49d

If you take my advice, you will give but little thought to Socrates but much more to the truth. If you think that what I say is true, agree with me; if not, oppose it with every argument.

Socrates, in Plato's Phaedo, 91b–c

I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue come money and every other good of man, public as well as private.

Socrates, in Plato's Apology, 30c–d

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