All Socrates Quotes

#1. Out of them all, Socrates is the hardest to deconstruct ... Indeed, he may just be indeconstructible.

Martin Cohen

#2. Socrates pointed out that we carry on as though death were the greatest of all calamities - yet, for all we know, it might be the greatest of all blessings.

Steve Hagen

#3. Life is legal tender, and individual character stamps its value. We are from a thousand mints, and all genuine. Despite our infinitely diverse appraisements, we make change for one another. So many ideals planted are worth the great gold of Socrates; so many impious laws broken are worth John Brown.

Louise Imogen Guiney

#4. The greatest of all mysteries is the man himself.

Socrates

#5. To fear death, gentlemen, is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does not know. No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man, yet men fear it as if they knew that it is the greatest of evils.

Socrates

#6. Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.

Socrates

#7. Socrates, who was a perfect model in all great qualities, ... hit on a body and face so ugly and so incongruous with the beauty of his soul, he who was so madly in love with beauty.

Michel De Montaigne

#8. Socrates ... is the first philosopher of life [Lebensphilosoph], ... Thinking serves life, while among all previous philosophers life had served thought and knowledge ... Thus Socratic philosophy is absolutely practical: it is hostile to all knowledge unconnected to ethical implications.

Friedrich Nietzsche

#9. O Socrates, the universe cannot for one instant endure to be only what it is. It is strange to think that that which is All cannot be sufficient unto itself!

Paul Valery

#10. In an ideal world, we'd all transform ourselves into experts and make judgments based on extensive knowledge. Given that this will never happen, our next best option is to emulate the wisdom of Socrates: We become wiser when we acknowledge our ignorance.

Joshua Greene

#11. Reality wasn't a syllogism like "Socrates is a man - all men are mortal - hence Socrates is mortal," but more like "Helga is a human being - all telephone booths have been vandalized - hence Helga must die." Or like: "Hitler is a human being - all Jews are animals - hence all Jews must die.

Harry Mulisch

#12. If you want to be a good saddler, saddle the worst horse; for if you can tame one, you can tame all.

Socrates

#13. By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.

Socrates

#14. All of a sudden he will catch sight of something wonderfully beautiful in its nature; that, Socrates, is the reason for all his earlier labors

Plato

#15. We all know that the un-examined life is not worth living (socrates). But if all you are doing is examining, you are not living.

Adam Leipzig

#16. See one promontory, one mountain, one sea, one river and see all.

Socrates

#17. Intelligent individuals learn from every thing and every one; average people, from their experiences. The stupid already have all the answers.

Socrates

#18. Could I climb the highest place in Athens, I would lift up my voice and proclaim, Fellow citizens, why do you burn and scrape every stone to gather wealth, and talk so little care of your children to whom you must one day relinquish all?

Socrates

#19. According to Plato, Socrates believed all knowledge came from a divine state, but humans had forgotten it. Most lived in a cave of ignorance, but one could become enlightened by climbing out of the darkness and understanding the divide between the spiritual and material planes.

Gwendolyn Womack

#20. I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.

Socrates

#21. Pythagoras, Locke, Socrates - but pages might be filled up, as vainly as before, with the sad usage of all sorts of sages, who in his life-time, each was deemed a bore! The loftiest minds outrun their tardy ages.

Lord Byron

#22. I would believe any religion that could prove it had existed since the beginning of the world. But when I see Socrates, Plato, Moses, and Mohammed I do not think there is such a one. All religions owe their origin to man.

Napoleon Bonaparte

#23. By means of beauty, all beautiful things become beautiful.

Socrates

#24. The uninitiated are those who believe in nothing except what they can grasp in their hands, and who deny the existence of all that is invisible.

Socrates

#25. And i wish I didn't have to lie so much. I don't think Frank Socrates would approve of all this lying.
I think Frank would want me to cause a lot more trouble than that.

A.S. King

#26. Consider the famous syllogism "All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore Socrates is mortal." So far, so good. But just because all men are mortal, it does not follow that all mortals are men, and it certainly does not follow that all men are Socrates.

Carol Tavris

#27. All I would ask you to be thinking of is the truth and not Socrates.

Plato

#28. In all of us, even in good men, there is a lawless wild-beast nature, which peers out in sleep.

Socrates

#29. Socrates used to say, "Philosophers can be happy without music;" and Christians can be happier than philosophers when all outward causes of rejoicing are withdrawn.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

#30. The ancient Oracle said that I was the wisest of all the Greeks. It is because I alone, of all the Greeks, know that I know nothing.

Socrates

#31. Wonder is the beginning of all wisdom.

Socrates

#32. Was the excellence of Socrates or of Shakespeare normal? Was it not rather abnormal, extraordinary? It is, I think, obvious in the first place, that not all that is good is normal; that, on the contrary, the abnormal is often better than the normal...

G.E. Moore

#33. To find the Father of all is hard. And when found, it is impossible to utter Him.

Socrates

#34. Socrates told us, "the unexamined life is not worth living." I think he's calling for curiosity, more than knowledge. In every human society at all times and at all levels, the curious are at the leading edge.

Roger Ebert

#35. The story goes that one day Socrates stood gazing at a stall that sold all
kinds of wares. Finally he said, What a lot of things I don't need!

Jostein Gaarder

#36. Socrates, after all, could be an intensely annoying man, all the time questioning passers-by until they became exasperated.

Samantha Harvey

#37. 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.

Socrates

#38. One 'beautiful-mind' indeed weighs heavy over thousand creations of nature
and that is why from Socrates to Kabir, all hold such great importance.

Deep Trivedi

#39. Silence is a profound melody, for those who can hear it above all the noise.

Socrates

#40. Socrates' fame spread all over Greece, and the most respected and educated men from all around came to him, in order to enjoy his friendly company and instruction.

Moses Mendelssohn

#41. The perfect human being is all human beings put together, it is a collective, it is all of us together that make perfection.

Socrates

#42. By all implies marry if you get a great wife/husband, you are going to be pleased. If you get a bad a single, you are going to become a philosopher.

Socrates

#43. At all times it has not been the age, but individuals alone, who have worked for knowledge. It was the age which put Socrates to death by poison, the age which burnt Huss. The ages have always remained alike.

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

#44. If all the misfortunes of mankind were cast into a public stack in order to be equally distributed among the whole species, those who now think themselves the most unhappy would prefer the share they are already possessed of before that which would fall to them by such a division.

Socrates

#45. All of the wisdom of this world is but a tiny raft upon which we must set sail when we leave this earth. If only there was a firmer foundation upon which to sail, perhaps some divine word.

Socrates

#46. I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.

Steve Jobs

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

Socrates

#48. The wise man seeks death all his life, and for this reason death is not terrifying to him.

Socrates

#49. All men are mortal. Socrates was mortal. Therefore, all men are Socrates.

Woody Allen

#50. All wars are fought for the acquisition of wealth

Socrates

#51. Smart people learn from everything and everyone,
Average people from their experiences,
Stupid people already have all the answers.

Socrates

#52. God does not deal directly with man: it is by means of spirits that all the intercourse and communication of gods with men, both in waking life and in sleep, is carried on.

Socrates

#53. All that I know is nothing - I'm not even sure of that.

Socrates

#54. Not because Socrates said so, but because it is in truth my own disposition - and perchance to some excess - I look upon all men as my compatriots, and embrace a Pole as a Frenchman, making less account of the national than of the universal and common bond.

Michel De Montaigne

#55. All I know is that I know nothing.

Socrates

#56. All cats die. Socrates is dead. Therefore Socrates is a cat.

Eugene Ionesco

#57. Do not grieve over someone who changes all of the sudden. It might be that he has given up acting and returned to his true self.

Socrates

#58. One's character is one's habitual way of behaving. We all have patterns of behavior or habits, and often we are quite unaware of them. When Socrates urged us to Know thyself, he clearly was directing us to come to know our habitual ways of responding to the world around us.

Thomas Lickona

#59. Millions of people, in all walks of life and in every endeavor, create distractions and excuses for themselves by focusing on tools rather than on character. They'd rather, as Socrates warned, focus on what they have than on what they are.

Eric Greitens

#60. Never call yourself a philosopher, nor talk a great deal among the unlearned about theorems, but act conformably to them. Thus, at an entertainment, don't talk how persons ought to eat, but
eat as you ought. For remember that in this manner Socrates also universally avoided all ostentation.

Epictetus

#61. all started at the Temple of Apollo In Delphi. One of his friends approached the oracle with the question: "Is anyone wiser than Socrates?" the answer was "No." Socrates was profoundly puzzled by this episode. He claimed to know

Plato

#62. I have not sought during my life to amass wealth and to adorn my body, but I have sought to adorn my soul with the jewels of wisdom, patience, and above all with a love of liberty.

Socrates

#63. I am very conscious that I am not wise at all.

Socrates

#64. O we have not choice but to agree that in each of us are found the same elements and characteristics as are found in the city? After all, where else could the city have got them from?

Socrates

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

Socrates

#66. The Only Thing I Know For Sure Is That I Know Nothing At All, For Sure

Socrates

#67. The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world, is to be in reality what we would appear to be, all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice and experience of them.

Socrates

#68. Even Socrates, who lived a very frugal and simple life, loved to go to the market. When his students asked about this, he replied, I love to go and see all the things I am happy without.

Jack Kornfield

#69. All I know is that I do not know anything

Socrates

#70. Socrates may have thought himself to be the wisest in Athens, but King Solomon was the wisest in the world. With all his philosophy Socrates died a poor man, and with all his wisdom King Solomon died a rich man.

Matshona Dhliwayo

#71. Not because Socrates said so, ... I look upon all men as my compatriots.

Michel De Montaigne

#72. Aren't you ashamed to be concerned so much about making all the money you can and advancing your reputation and prestige, while for truth and wisdom and the improvement of your souls you have no thought or car?

Socrates

#73. 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.

Socrates

#74. Two things greater than all the things are.On is love and the other is war.

Socrates

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

Socrates

#76. Wow. She's like a mini-Socrates with all this life advice. I feel like I should be taking notes. Or debating with her.

Colleen Hoover

#77. Beloved Pan and all ye other gods who haunt this place, give me beauty in the inward soul, and may the outward and the inner man be at one.

Socrates

#78. As for me, all I know is I know nothing.

Socrates

#79. Maybe that's what the quasars that stand sentinel at the end of the universe are all about - they are the spots where people like Socrates and Christ dug through; they are windows into bright and terrible wisdom. They are warnings.

Whitley Strieber

#80. If what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all

Socrates

#81. When our feet hurt, we hurt all over.

Socrates

#82. All thinking begins with wondering

Socrates

#83. I conceived 'All Is Song' as a modernised, loosely interpreted version of Socrates's life.

Samantha Harvey

#84. And although it might be best of all to be Socrates satisfied, having both happiness and depth, we would give up some happiness in order to gain the depth.

Robert Nozick

#85. 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.

Socrates

#86. You ask a question, I said, to which a reply can only be given in a parable. Yes, Socrates; and that is a way of speaking to which you are not at all accustomed, I suppose.

Plato

#87. When you propose ridiculous things to believe, too many men will choose to believe nothing at all.

Socrates

#88. The Republic isn't as much fun as The Symposium. It's all long speeches, and nobody bursting in drunk to woo Socrates in the middle.

Jo Walton

#89. Hamlet, Kiekegaard, Kafka are ironists in the wake of Jesus. All Western irony is a repetition of Jesus' enigmas/riddles, in amalgam with the ironies of Socrates.

Harold Bloom

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

Socrates

#91. The soul then, as being immortal, and having been born again many times, and having seen all things that exist, whether in this world or in the world below, has knowledge of them all ... all enquiry and all learning is but recollection.

Socrates

#92. The reason people don't buy conspiracy theories is they think 'conspiracy' means everybody's on the same program. That's not how it works. Everybody's got a different program. They just all want the same guy dead. Socrates was a gadfly, but I bet he took time out to screw somebody's wife.

James Lee Burke

#93. Socrates thought and so do I that the wisest theory about the gods is no theory at all.

Michel De Montaigne

#94. Socrates, one of the greatest philosophers of all time, took his whole life to get to the point where he said, As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.

Miguel Ruiz

#95. Socrates learned to his cost, the true nature of democracy is to encourage corruption and excess in all its forms. But the

Philip Kerr

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

Socrates

#97. Living well and beautifully and justly are all one thing.

Socrates