Greek Philospher Socrates Quotes

You think that upon the score of fore-knowledge and divining I am infinitely inferior to the swans. When they perceive approaching death they sing more merrily than before, because of the joy they have in going to the God they serve.

Woman once made equal to man becomes his superior.

Wisdom begins in wonder.

Wisdom adorns riches, and shadows poverty.

Wind puffs up empty bladders; opinion, fools.

Virtue is the nursing-mother of all human pleasures, who, in rendering them just, renders them also pure and permanent; in moderating them, keeps them in breath and appetite; in interdicting those which she herself refuses, whets our desires to those that she allows; and, like a kind and liberal mother, abundantly allows all that nature requires, even to satiety, if not to lassitude.

Virtue is the beauty of the soul.

Trust not a woman when she weeps, for it is her nature to weep when she wants her will.
True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.

To need nothing is divine, and the less a man needs the nearer does he approach to divinity.

Though flattery blossoms like friendship, yet there is a vast difference in the fruit.

Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions, but those who kindly reprove thy faults.

They who provide much wealth for their children, but neglect to improve them in virtue, do like those who feed their horses high, but never train them to the manage.

There is no difference between knowledge and temperance; for he who knows what is good and embraces it, who knows what is bad and avoids it, is learned and temperate.

The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.
The unexamined life is not worth living.

The tongue of a fool is the key of his counsel, which, in a wise man, wisdom hath in keeping.

The soul is cured of its maladies by certain incantations; these incantations are beautiful reasons, from which temperance is generated in souls.

The nearest way to glory is to strive to be what you wish to be thought to be.

The greatest flood has the soonest ebb; the sorest tempest the most sudden calm; the hottest love the coldest end; and from the deepest desire oftentimes ensues the deadliest hate.

The fewer our wants, the nearer we resemble the gods.

The fear of death is indeed the pretense of wisdom, and not real wisdom, being a pretense of knowing the unknown . . . and no one knows whether death which men in their fear apprehend to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good. . . .

The end of life is to be like unto God; and the soul following God, will be like unto Him; He being the beginning, middle, and end of all things.

The best seasoning for food in hunger; for drink, thirst.

Such as thy words are, such will thy affections be esteemed; and such will thy deeds be as thy affections and such thy life as thy deeds.

Slanderers do not hurt me, because they do not hit me.

Philosophy begins with wonder.

Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us.

Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior.

O beloved Pan, and all ye other gods of this place, grant me to become beautiful in the inner man.

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

No man undertakes a trade he has not learned, even the meanest; yet every one thinks himself sufficiently qualified for the hardest of all trades,--that of government.

My belief is to have no wants; it is divine.

My advice to you is get married: if you find a good wife you'll be happy; if not, you'll become a philosopher.

Malice drinketh up the greater part of its own poison.

Listen not to a tale-bearer or slanderer, for he tells thee nothing out of good-will; but as he discovereth of the secrets of others, so he will of thine in turn.

Knowledge is our ultimate good.

If thou continuest to take delight in idle argumentation, thou mayest be qualified to combat with the sophists, but never know how to love with men.

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

I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live.

I pray Thee, O God, that I may be beautiful within.

I know nothing except of my ignorance.

I hold that to need nothing is divine, and the less a man needs the nearer he does approach divinity.

I believe that we cannot live better than in seeking to become better, nor more agreeably than having a clear conscience.

I am not an Athenian, nor a Greek, but a citizen of the world.

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

He is the richest who is content with the least.

He is richest who is content with the least; for content is the wealth of nature.
He is not only idle who does nothing, but he is idle who might be better employed.
Happiness is unrepented pleasure.

Four things belong to a judge: to hear courteously, to answer wisely, to consider soberly, and to decide impartially.

For who is there but you? who not only claim to be a good man and a gentleman, for many are this, and yet have not the power of making others good. Whereas you are not only good yourself, but also the cause of goodness in others.

Flattery is like friendship in show, but not in fruit.

Fame is the perfume of heroic deeds.

False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.
Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.

Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.

Call no man unhappy until he is married.

Before the birth of Love, many fearful things took place through the empire of necessity; but when this god was born, all things rose to men.

Beauty is a short-lived tyranny.

Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in continue firm and constant.

Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.

As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which he will, he is sure to repent.
As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.

And in knowing that you know nothing, that makes you the smartest of all.

An envious man waxeth lean with the fatness of his neighbors. Envy is the daughter of pride, the author of murder and revenge, the beginner of secret sedition and the perpetual tormentor of virtue. Envy is the filthy slime of the soul; a venom, a poison, or quicksilver which consumeth the flesh and drieth up the marrow of the bones.

An education obtained with money is worse than no education at all.

All men's souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine.

A man can no more make a safe use of wealth without reason than he can of a horse without a bridle.

Greek Philospher Socrates Quotes