Socrates
Socrates
Socrates was a classical Greekphilosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy. He is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon and the plays of his contemporary Aristophanes. Plato's dialogues are among the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity, though it is unclear the degree to which Socrates himself is "hidden behind his 'best disciple', Plato"...
NationalityGreek
ProfessionPhilosopher
philosophy love-you teaching
Men of Athens, I honor and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you, and while I have life and strength I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of philosophy.
ignorance firsts acquiring-knowledge
Admitting one's ignorance is the first step in acquiring knowledge ...
death running unrighteousness
The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death.
men thinking greek-philosopher
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.
names may assignments
If I can assign names as well as pictures to objects, the right assignment of them we may call truth, and the wrong assignment of them falsehood.
children years accusing-me
There are a great many of these accusers, and they have been accusing me now for a great many years, and what is more, they approached you at the most impressionable age, when some of you were children or adolescents; and literally won their case by default, because there was no one to defend me.
practice soul wish
The soul, like the body, accepts by practice whatever habit one wishes it to contact.
world ruins ingredients
If measure and symmetry are absent from any composition in any degree, ruin awaits both the ingredients and the composition... Measure and symmetry are beauty and virtue the world over.
excellence habit
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is a habit.
men training matter
No man has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training
clever friendly ridiculous
Is it not, then, better to be ridiculous and friendly than clever and hostile?
blessing doe wealth
wealth does not bring goodness, but goodness brings wealth and every other blessing, both to the individual and to the state
courage men desire
I desire only to know the truth, and to live as well as I can...And, to the utmost of my power, I exhort all other men to do the same...I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict.
life aka virtue
It is the greatest good for an individual to discuss virtue (aka areté) every day...for the unexamined life is not worth living.