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
running suicidal men
There is a doctrine whispered in secret that a man is a prisoner who has no right to open the door and run away; this is a great mystery which I do not quite understand.
fall dust sand
Our lives are but specks of dust falling through the fingers of time. Like sands of the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.
enquiry worth-living
Life without enquiry is not worth living.
apology blessing two
Let us reflect in this way, too, that there is good hope that death is a blessing, for it is one of two things: either the dead are nothing and have no perception of anything, or it is, as we are told, a change and a relocation for the soul from here to another place.
knowing knows
Wisdom is knowing when you don't know
eye soul body
Just as you ought not to attempt to cure eyes without head or head without body, so you should not treat body without soul.
men knowing world
Nobody knows anything, but I, knowing nothing, am the smartest man in the world.
knows known
All that we know is nothing can be known.
magnificence defeat oneself
There is no greater magnificence than to defeat oneself. That is the magnificence...
men immortality creation
Creation is man's immortality and brings him nearest to the gods.
ignorance true-wisdom recognizing
The true Wisdom is in recognizing our own ignorance.
knows
As for me, all I know is I know nothing.
hands needs tasks
The hardest task needs the lightest hand or else its completion will not lead to freedom but to a tyranny much worse than the one it replaces.
apology young ifs
Either I do not corrupt the young or, if I do, it is unwillingly.