Quotes from Socrates

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.

I do believe that there are gods, and in a far higher sense than that in which any of my accusers believe in them.

As for me, all I know is that I know nothing, for when I don't know what justice is, I'll hardly know whether it is a kind of virtue or not, or whether a person who has it is happy or unhappy.

I soon realized that poets do not compose their poems with knowledge, but by some inborn talent and by inspiration, like seers and prophets who also say many fine things without any understanding of what they say.

Mankind is made of two kinds of people: wise people who know they're fools, and fools who think they are wise.

No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man, yet men fear it as if they knew it was the greatest of evils.

Remember, no human condition is ever permanent. Then you will not be overjoyed in good fortune, nor too sorrowful in misfortune.

Neither in war nor yet at law ought any man to use every way of escaping death. For often in battle there is no doubt that if a man will throw away his arms, and fall on his knees before his pursuers, he may escape death; and in other dangers there are other ways of escaping death, if a man is willing to say and do anything. The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death.

It is not difficult to avoid death, gentlemen of the jury; it is much more difficult to avoid wickedness, for it runs faster than death.

God would seem to indicate to us and not allow us to doubt that these beautiful poems are not human, or the work of man, but divine and the work of God; and that the poets are only the interpreters of the Gods...

A man who really fights for justice must lead a private, not a public, life if he is to survive for even a short time.

I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul. I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man...

The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.

How many things can I do without?

Wisdom is knowing you know nothing

Nobody is qualified to become a statesman who is entirely ignorant of the problem of wheat.

Do you feel no compunction, Socrates, at having followed a line of action which puts you in danger of the death penalty?' I might fairly reply to him, 'You are mistaken, my friend, if you think that a man who is worth anything ought to spend his time weighing up the prospects of life and death. He has only one thing to consider in performing any action--that is, whether he is acting rightly or wrongly, like a good man or a bad one.

Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.

By far the greatest and most admirable form of wisdom is that needed to plan and beautify cities and human communities.

Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.

wealth does not bring goodness, but goodness brings wealth and every other blessing, both to the individual and to the state

How can you wonder your travels do you no good, when you carry yourself around with you?

Programming is not about what you know. It's about what you can figure out.

I don't know why I did it, I don't know why I enjoyed it, and I don't know why I'll do it again.