Socrates is considered the father of Western philosophy, although he did not worry too much about making future generations know him. He left no known written work, and almost everything that is known about him is due to the writings of his disciple Plato.
He dedicated a good part of his life to discussing issues such as truth, justice, and beauty with the inhabitants of Athens. Hope, our collection of Socrates Quotes will inspire you to live with the truth.
Wisdom is knowing what you don’t know.
– Socrates
Socrates Quotes
1. “We gain our first measure of intelligence when we first admit our own ignorance.” – Socrates
2. “It is better to change an opinion than to persist in a wrong one.” – Socrates
3. “Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.” – Socrates
4. “Only the extremely ignorant or the extremely intelligent can resist change.” – Socrates
5. “Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.” – Socrates
6. “The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.” – Socrates
7. “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” – Socrates
8. “The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates
9. “He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.” – Socrates
10. “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
11. “I would rather die having spoken after my manner than speak in your manner and live.” – Socrates
12. “The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.” – Socrates
13. “False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.” – Socrates
14. “Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” – Socrates
15. “The years wrinkle our skin, but lack of enthusiasm wrinkles our soul.” – Socrates
16. “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.” – Socrates
17. “When you want wisdom and insight as badly as you want to breathe, it is then you shall have it.” – Socrates
18. “Falling down is not a failure. Failure comes when you stay where you have fallen.” – Socrates
19. “Smart people learn from everything and everyone, average people from their experiences, stupid people already have all the answers.” – Socrates
20. “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
21. “Every action has its pleasures and its price.” – Socrates
22. “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
23. “The highest realms of thought are impossible to reach without first attaining an understanding of compassion.” – Socrates
24. “Virtue does not come from wealth, but wealth… and every other good thing which men have comes from virtue.” – Socrates
25. “To move the world we must move ourselves.” – Socrates
26. “The mind is everything; what you think you become.” – Socrates
27. “Those who are hardest to love need it the most.” – Socrates
28. “We cannot live better than in seeking to become better.” – Socrates
29. “Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.” – Socrates
30. “True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.” – Socrates
31. “Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued.” – Socrates
32. “To express oneself badly is not only faulty as far as the language goes, but does some harm to the soul.” – Socrates
33. “No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man, yet men fear it as if they knew it was the greatest of evils.” – Socrates
34. “A man who really fights for justice must lead a private, not a public, life if he is to survive for even a short time.” – Socrates
35. “The poets are only the interpreters of the Gods.” – Socrates
36. “A Life without criticism and status is not a worth living.” – Socrates
37. “It is not difficult to avoid death, gentlemen of the jury; it is much more difficult to avoid wickedness, for it runs faster than death.” – Socrates
38. “May the inward and outward man be as one.” – Socrates
39. “There is no greater evil one can suffer than to hate reasonable discourse.” – Socrates
40. “I know you won’t believe me, but the highest form of Human Excellence is to question oneself and others.” – Socrates
41. “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates
42. “It is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong.” – Socrates
43. “An honest man is always a child.” – Socrates
44. “They give you the semblance of success, I give you the reality.” – Socrates
45. “Once a man knows good from evil, nothing on earth can compel him to act against that knowledge.” – Socrates
46. “Speak, so that I may see you.” – Socrates
47. “When the debate is over, slander becomes the tool of the loser.” – Socrates
48. “Two things greater than all the things are. On is love and the other is war.” – Socrates
49. “The mind is the pilot of the soul.” – Socrates
50. “Knowledge will make you be free.” – Socrates
51. “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” – Socrates
Socrates Quotes Images
