Socrates
Classical Athenian philosopher, the figure whose life and death gave Western philosophy its founding myth — the gadfly of Athens, condemned to death in 399 BCE for 'corrupting the youth' and 'impiety,' who chose to drink hemlock rather than abandon the philosophical life. Born around 470 BCE, son of a stonemason and a midwife, Socrates served as a hoplite in the Peloponnesian War and then turned to the questioning of his fellow citizens in the Athenian agora — a practice that produced no writings of his own but that his student Plato preserved in the great early dialogues (Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Symposium, Meno, Theaetetus). Xenophon's Memorabilia and Aristophanes's Clouds offer alternative portraits. The Socratic method — relentless questioning that reveals the questioner does not know what he thought he knew — became the foundation of philosophical inquiry; the Socratic claim that 'the unexamined life is not worth living' became its motto. He died in 399 BCE in Athens, surrounded by his students.
115
quotes in library
Quotes by Socrates
115 quotes“He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.”
contentmentDiogenes Laertius (citing Socrates)
“To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.”
knowingPlato's Apology (paraphrase)
“To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise without really being wise.”
fearPlato's Apology
“For it is to think that we know what we do not know.”
fearPlato's Apology
“No one knows whether death may not be the greatest good that can happen to a person.”
deathPlato's Apology
“Yet people fear it as if they knew it to be the greatest evil.”
fearPlato's Apology
“This is the most blameworthy ignorance — to think one knows what one does not know.”
ignorancePlato's Apology
“The hour of departure has arrived. We go our separate ways — I to die, you to live.”
departurePlato's Apology (closing)
“Strong minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Weak minds discuss people.”
mindsattributed; cited by Eleanor Roosevelt
“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.”
busyattributed (no firm source)
“Let him that would move the world, first move himself.”
worldattributed (no firm source)
“The greatest blessing granted to mankind comes by way of madness, which is a divine gift.”
madnessPlato's Phaedrus
“Wisdom begins in wonder.”
wisdomPlato's Theaetetus (paraphrase)
“Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings.”
improvingattributed (in Aulus Gellius and elsewhere)
“So that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.”
readingattributed (in Aulus Gellius)
“Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior.”
equalDiogenes Laertius (paraphrase)
“Smart people learn from everything and everyone, average people from their experiences, stupid people already have all the answers.”
smartattributed (no firm source)
“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
honorDiogenes Laertius (paraphrase)
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
wisdomPlato's Apology
Explore More Teachers
Discover wisdom from 500+ spiritual teachers across all traditions.
Browse All Teachers