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.
quotes in library
Quotes by Socrates
101 quotes“The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.”
“Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.”
“Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.”
“By far the greatest evil one can do is to act unjustly.”
“It is better to suffer injustice than to commit it.”
“For the one who suffers injustice has only the harm. The one who commits injustice has the moral wound.”
“And the moral wound is the worst of harms.”
“This is the deepest teaching of philosophy.”
“Virtue is one and entire — wisdom, justice, courage, temperance, and piety are not different things.”
“They are different aspects of the same thing.”
“And that thing is the well-ordered soul.”
“Care of the soul is the most important task of human life.”
“Beside this, all other tasks are secondary.”
“Wealth, reputation, body — these are nothing without a well-ordered soul.”
“With a well-ordered soul, even poverty becomes wealth.”
“My friend, care for your soul.”
“This is the heart of my message to Athens.”
“And it would be the heart of my message to any city, in any age.”
“What men know is little. What they think they know is much. What they actually know is even less than the little.”
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