Quotes from Socrates

Homme, connais-toi toi-même!

Once a man knows good from evil, nothing on earth can compel him to act against that knowledge.

Craindre la mort, Athéniens, ce n'est autre chose que se croire sage sans l'être, car c'est croire connaître ce que l'on ne connaît point.

Loin de parler quand on me paie, et de me taire quand on me donne rien.

But my dear Crito, why should we care so much about what the majority think?

I know one thing, that I know nothing.

You are mistaken, my friend, if you think that a man who is worth anything ought to spend his time weighing up the prospects of life and death. He has only one thing to consider in performing any action; that is, whether he is acting justly or unjustly, like a good man or a bad one.

Justice. If only we knew what it was.

Este hombre, por una parte, cree que sabe algo, mientras que no sabe [nada]. Por otra parte, yo, que igualmente no sé [nada], tampoco creo [saber algo].

Virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man, public as well as private.

Sometimes quotes you find on the internet are fake.

Anyone who's really fighting for justice must live as a private citizen and not as a public figure if he's going to survive even a short time.

By all means marry,if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher".

God only is wise.

? ... ??????????? ???? ?? ?????? ???????... An unexamined life is not worth living

Make Athens Think Again.

T]hese people... are my dangerous accusers; because those who hear them suppose that anyone who inquires into such matters... theories about the heavens... and everything below the earth... must be an atheist.

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

I]n any inquiry you are likely to attain more nearly to knowledge of your object in proportion to the care and accuracy with which you have prepared yourself to understand that object in itself[.]

T]hose who care about their souls and do not subordinate them to the body dissociate themselves firmly from these others and refuse to accompany them on their haphazard journey; and, believing that it is wrong to oppose philosophy with her offer of liberation and purification, they turn and follow her wherever she leads...

No man on earth who conscientiously opposes either you or any other organized democracy, and flatly prevents a great many wrongs and illegalities from taking place in the state to which he belongs, can possibly escape with his life. The true champion of justice, if he intends to survive even for a short time, must necessarily confine himself to private life and leave politics alone.

I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance

There is the explanation that is put in the language of the mysteries, that we men are in a kind of prison, and that one must not free oneself or run away. That seems to me an impressive doctrine and one not easy to understand fully. However, Cebes, this seems to me well expressed, that the gods are our guardians and that men are one of their possessions. Or do you not think so?

Someone might say: " Are you not ashaed, Socrates, to have followed the kind of occupation that has led to your being now in danger of death?" Howeverm, Ishould be right to reply to him: "You are wrong, sir, if you think that a man who is any good at all should take into account the risk of life or death; he should look to this only in his actions, whether what he does is right or wrong, whether he is acting like a good or bad man