I leave you the best famous quotes of Socrates about life, wisdom, death, people, philosophy, education, love and much more.
Socrates was a Greek philosopher and the main source of Western thought. Little is known of his life except what was recorded by his students, including Plato.
He did not leave any writings, so his quotes are taken from the writings of his apprentices. His "Socratic method" laid the foundation for Western systems of logic and philosophy.
His philosophy was based on the fact that every human being aspires to happiness and this can only come from virtues. Of the virtues, the most important is wisdom, since only a wise man is aware that through virtuous acts he can achieve real happiness.
You may also be interested in these phrases of great philosophers or these of Plato.
Famous Socrates quotes for history
-I can't teach anyone anything. I can only make you think.
-Doubt is the beginning of wisdom.
-To find yourself, think for yourself.
-Education is the lighting of a flame, not the filling of a container.
-The unexamined life is not worth living.
-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.
-What harms us the most in life is the image we have in our heads of what it is supposed to be.
-The mind is everything; what you think you become.
-Mankind is made up of two types of people: wise people who know they are foolish, and fools who think they are wise.
-Spend your time in improving yourself by reading the writings of other men, so you will easily learn what others have learned with hard work.
-The true wisdom is in knowing that nothing is known.
-Whoever wants to move the world must first move himself.
- Get married. If you get a good woman, you will be happy. If you get a bad woman, you will be a philosopher.
"Is it a good thing because the gods approve of it?" Or is it that the gods approve of it because it is good?
-The really important thing is not to live, but to live well. And living well means, along with the most pleasant things in life, living according to our own principles.
-The friend has to be like money, that before needing it, you know its value.
-The pains of life should console us with death.
-There is only one good: knowledge. And an evil: ignorance.
-Only the knowledge that makes us better is useful.
-There are two things greater than all things. One is love and the other is war.
-Give me beauty in the inner soul; that the exterior and the interior of man be one.
-The secret of happiness is not found in the search for more, but in the development of the ability to enjoy with less.
-Down into the depths of yourself, and see your good soul. Happiness is only made by oneself with good behavior.
-Don't do to others what you wouldn't want them to do to you.
-Be good, because everyone you know is fighting a tough battle.
-Bright minds discuss powerful ideas; average minds argue about events; weak minds argue about other people.
-Know yourself.
-Be slow to create a friendship, but when you are in it, remain firm and constant.
-He who is not happy with what he has, will not be happy with what he would like to have.
-Sometimes, you build walls not to keep other people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.
-When the debate is lost, defamation becomes the loser's tool.
-Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.
- Joy is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.
-Each action has its pleasures and its price.
-I prefer knowledge than wealth, because this is temporary, while the other is perpetual.
-We cannot live better, except in the search to be better.
-A wild man cannot inspire affection; he is unsociable and closes the door to friendship.
-Understanding a question is half the answer.
-Envy is the ulcer of the soul.
-Be careful of the sterility of a busy life.
-The hottest love has the coldest ending.
-I know what you want to look like.
-Eat to live; don't live to eat.
-The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.
-From the deepest desires, often come the most lethal hatreds.
-Only with death we are truly cured of the "disease of life."
-True wisdom comes to each one of us, when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves and the world around us.
-There is no greater evil that one can suffer, than to hate a reasonable speech.
-Once the man is equaled, the woman becomes his superior.
-The secret of change is to focus all your energy, not on fighting against the old, but on building the new.
-One must never do wrong or mistreat any man, no matter how much damage has been inflicted on us.
-Speak so that I can see you with the eyes of the soul.
-The principle of wisdom is the definition of terms.
-The easiest and noblest way to walk is not by crushing others, but by improving yourself.
-Life contains only two tragedies. One is not getting your heart's desire; the other is to get it.
-In all of us, even in good men, there is a wild and lawless nature, which appears in the dream.
-My friend… take care of your psyche… know yourself, because once we know ourselves, we can learn how to take care of ourselves.
-The greatest blessing granted to humanity is carried out through madness, which is a divine gift.
-Have good courage in the face of death and keep in mind this truth: that no harm can happen to a good man, either in life or after death.
-False words are not bad by themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.
-Think not of the faithful who praise all your words and actions; but in those who kindly rebuke your faults.
-All the souls of men are immortal, but the souls of the just are immortal and divine.
-Through your rags, I see your vanity.
-I just know that I don't know anything and that nothing I don't even know that I don't know.
-The base souls are only conquered with gifts.
-It is better to change your mind than to persist in a wrong one.
-No one is qualified to become a statesman when he is totally ignorant of the wheat problem.
-The true defender of justice, if he intends to survive even for a short period of time, must necessarily limit himself, to private life and leave politics.
-To be is to do.
-The higher realms of thought are impossible to reach without first achieving an understanding of compassion.
-Speak so that I know you.
-The lie wins tricks, but the truth wins the game.
-The notions of good and evil are innate in the human soul.
-Whoever is unable to live in society or who has no need for it because he is self-sufficient, has to be a beast or a God.
-The highest degree of knowledge is to contemplate why.
-Knowing is the main part of happiness.
-I know you will not believe me, but the highest form of human excellence is to question yourself and others.
-The misuse of language induces evil in the soul.
-Living in a good, beautiful and fair way is only one thing.
-When you want wisdom and vision as much as you want to breathe, that is when you will have it.
-Not only is he at rest who does nothing, he is also inactive who could be better employed.
-Beauty is a short-lived tyranny.
"If an ass had kicked me, would I denounce him?"
-A system of morality that is based on relative emotional values, is a mere illusion, a totally vulgar conception that has nothing healthy and nothing true.
-As for marriage or celibacy, let the man take the path he wants to follow, so he will be sure what to regret.
-The simplicity of my speech makes them hate me, and what is hatred but proof that I am telling the truth.
-Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore, avoid excessive euphoria in prosperity or undue depression in adversity.
-I believe that there are gods, and in a much higher sense than that of any of my accusers.
-Don't let the grass grow in the way of friendship.
-The answer I give myself and the oracle is that it is an advantage for me to be who I am.
-Observe yourself without blindness and say with precision and courage what you are feeling.
-The crowd, when it exercises its authority, is more cruel than the tyrants of the East.
-I will not give in to any man against what is right, for fear of death, even if I have to die for not giving in.
-Human science consists more in destroying errors than in discovering truths.
-Four characteristics correspond to the judge: listen courteously, respond wisely, ponder prudently and decide impartially.
-The good conscience is the best pillow to sleep.
-The joy of the soul forms the most beautiful days of life at any time.
- Is there someone to whom you entrust a greater number of serious matters than to your wife? And is there someone with whom you have fewer conversations?
-In whatever direction your soul travels, you will never stumble over its limits.
-Kings or rulers are not those who carry a scepter, but those who know how to command.
-To tell the truth, little eloquence is enough.
-The past has its codes and customs.
-The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding injustice, which is executed faster than death.
-We get closer to the truth only to the extent that we get away from life. The wise man seeks death all his life, and therefore death is not terrible for him.
-Well, although I don't think either of you knows anything really beautiful and good, I'm better than you are. Well, you don't know anything and you think you know; while I neither know, nor do I think I know.
-No man has the right to be an amateur in terms 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.
-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 have it forever. Your mind is your situation.
-Now, children are tyrants. They have bad manners, they disrespect authority; they show a lack of respect towards older people and love chatting instead of exercise.
-I tried to convince each of you to worry less about what you have and more about what you are, in order to make yourself as excellent and rational as possible.
-I just want to know the truth and live as well as I can… And to the best of my power, I urge all other men to do the same. I also urge you to participate in the great battle, which is the battle of life, greater than any other earthly conflict.
-And so they get richer and richer, because the more you think about making a fortune, the less you think about virtue. When wealth and virtue are placed together in the balance, one always increases as the other falls.
-I do nothing but persuade everyone, young and old, not to focus on their people or their properties. Worry, above all, to improve the soul. I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but from virtue comes money and any other good of man.
-Fear of death, gentlemen, is nothing other than believing yourself wise when you are not; to think that one knows what one does not know. No one knows whether or not death may be the greatest of all blessings for a man, but men fear it as if they knew it to be the greatest of evils.