Top 100+ Socrates Quotes

In this list we have gathered the top Socrates quotes for you to read. Socrates is regarded as one of the founders of Western philosopy, and it’s no wonder his quotes have become very popular on multiple forums and channels on the internet in the modern days. Most of the quotes from Socrates can give you great wisdom of the nature of life and also some inspiration on how to live your own life purposefully and successfully. The list has been organized with the most popular Socrates quotes on the top, as all the quotes on this list are ranked by community votes. Feel free to vote your own favourite Socrates quote in order to help it move up the list!

  1. 1
    Socrates

    “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” ― Socrates

  2. 2
    Socrates

    “The unexamined life is not worth living.” ― Socrates

  3. 3
    Socrates

    “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think” ― Socrates

  4. 4
    Socrates

    “There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.” ― Socrates

  5. 5
    Socrates

    “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” ― Socrates

  6. 6
    Socrates

    “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” ― Socrates

  7. 7
    Socrates

    “Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” ― Socrates

  8. 8
    Socrates

    “To find yourself, think for yourself.” ― Socrates

  9. 9
    Socrates

    “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” ― Socrates

  10. 10
    Socrates

    “By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.” ― Socrates

  11. 11
    Socrates

    “He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.” ― Socrates

  12. 12
    Socrates

    “Be slow to fall into friendship, but when you are in, continue firm and constant.” ― Socrates

  13. 13
    Socrates

    “If you don’t get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don’t want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can’t hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is law and no amount of pretending will alter that reality.” ― Socrates

  14. 14
    Socrates

    “The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.” ― Socrates

  15. 15
    Socrates

    “Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.” ― Socrates

  16. 16
    Socrates

    “When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.” ― Socrates

  17. 17
    Socrates

    “Know thyself.” ― Socrates

  18. 18
    Socrates

    “No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.” ― Socrates

  19. 19
    Socrates

    “The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.” ― Socrates

  20. 20
    Socrates

    “Let him who would move the world first move himself.” ― Socrates

  21. 21
    Socrates

    “Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.” ― Socrates

  22. 22
    Socrates

    “Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.” ― Socrates, Essential Thinkers – Socrates

  23. 23
    Socrates

    “The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.” ― Socrates

  24. 24
    Socrates

    “Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.” ― Socrates

  25. 25
    Socrates

    “I examined the poets, and I look on them as people whose talent overawes both themselves and others, people who present themselves as wise men and are taken as such, when they are nothing of the sort.

    From poets, I moved to artists. No one was more ignorant about the arts than I; no one was more convinced that artists possessed really beautiful secrets. However, I noticed that their condition was no better than that of the poets and that both of them have the same misconceptions. Because the most skillful among them excel in their specialty, they look upon themselves as the wisest of men. In my eyes, this presumption completely tarnished their knowledge. As a result, putting myself in the place of the oracle and asking myself what I would prefer to be — what I was or what they were, to know what they have learned or to know that I know nothing — I replied to myself and to the god: I wish to remain who I am.

    We do not know — neither the sophists, nor the orators, nor the artists, nor I— what the True, the Good, and the Beautiful are. But there is this difference between us: although these people know nothing, they all believe they know something; whereas, I, if I know nothing, at least have no doubts about it. As a result, all this superiority in wisdom which the oracle has attributed to me reduces itself to the single point that I am strongly convinced that I am ignorant of what I do not know.” ― Socrates

  26. 26
    Socrates

    “Every action has its pleasures and its price.” ― 

  27. 27
    Socrates

    “Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.” ― Socrates

  28. 28
    Socrates

    “I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
    [As quoted in Plutarch’s Of Banishment]” ― Socrates

  29. 29
    Socrates

    “The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our separate ways, I to die, and you to live. Which of these two is better only God knows.” ― Socrates

  30. 30
    Socrates

    “Prefer knowledge to wealth, for the one is transitory, the other perpetual.” ― Socrates

  31. 31
    Socrates

    “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” ― Socrates

  32. 32
    Socrates

    “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” ― Socrates

  33. 33
    Socrates

    “understanding a question is half an answer” ― Socrates, Essential Thinkers – Socrates

  34. 34
    Socrates

    “Envy is the ulcer of the soul.” ― Socrates

  35. 35
    Socrates

    “The hottest love has the coldest end.” ― Socrates

  36. 36
    Socrates

    “Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart’s desire; the other is to get it.” ― Socrates

  37. 37
    Socrates

    “Be as you wish to seem.” ― Socrates

  38. 38
    Socrates

    “Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.” ― Socrates

  39. 39
    Socrates

    “I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.” ― Socrates

  40. 40
    Socrates

    “The greatest way to live with honour in this world is to be what we pretend to be.” ― Socrates, Essential Thinkers – Socrates

  41. 41
    Socrates

    “From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate.” ― Socrates

  42. 42
    Socrates

    “Be nicer than necessary to everyone you meet. Everyone is fighting some kind of battle.” ― Socrates

  43. 43
    Socrates

    “True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.” ― Socrates

  44. 44
    Socrates

    “To fear death, gentlemen, is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does not know. No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man, yet men fear it as if they knew that it is the greatest of evils.” ― Socrates

  45. 45
    Socrates

    “Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior.” ― Socrates

  46. 46
    Socrates

    “If you want to be a good saddler, saddle the worst horse; for if you can tame one, you can tame all.” ― Socrates

  47. 47
    Socrates

    “I pray Thee, O God, that I may be beautiful within. ” ― Socrates

  48. 48
    Socrates

    “I pray Thee, O God, that I may be beautiful within. ” ― Socrates

  49. 49
    Socrates

    “If a man comes to the door of poetry untouched by the madness of the Muses, believing that technique alone will make him a good poet, he and his sane compositions never reach perfection, but are utterly eclipsed by the performances of the inspired madman.” ― Socrates

  50. 50
    Socrates

    “The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms.” ― Socrates

  51. 51
    Socrates

    “One should never do wrong in return, nor mistreat any man, no matter how one has been mistreated by him.” ― Socrates

  52. 52
    Socrates

    “The really important thing is not to live, but to live well. And to live well meant, along with more enjoyable things in life, to live according to your principles.” ― Socrates

  53. 53
    Socrates

    “My friend…care for your psyche…know thyself, for once we know ourselves, we may learn how to care for ourselves” -Socrates” ― Socrates

  54. 54
    Socrates

    “Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of — for credit is like fire; when once you have kindled it you may easily preserve it, but if you once extinguish it, you will find it an arduous task to rekindle it again. The way to a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” ― Socrates

  55. 55
    Socrates

    “The easiest and noblest way is not to be crushing others, but to be improving yourselves. ” ― Socrates

  56. 56
    Socrates

    “In all of us, even in good men, there is a lawless wild-beast nature, which peers out in sleep.” ― Socrates

  57. 57
    Socrates

    “If all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be content to take their own and depart.” ― Socrates

  58. 58
    Socrates

    “He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.” ― Socrates

  59. 59
    Socrates

    “The greatest blessing granted to mankind come by way of madness, which is a divine gift.” ― Socrates

  60. 60
    Socrates

    “I only know that I know nothing” ― Socrates

  61. 61
    Socrates

    “Children nowadays are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannise their teachers.” ― Socrates

  62. 62
    Socrates

    “All I know is that I do not know anything” ― Socrates

  63. 63
    Socrates

    “Be of good cheer about death, and know this of a truth, that no evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death.” ― Socrates

  64. 64
    Socrates

    “Those who are hardest to love need it the most.” ― Socrates

  65. 65
    Socrates

    “Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions; but those who kindly reprove thy faults.” ― Socrates

  66. 66
    Socrates

    “All men’s souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine.” ― Socrates

  67. 67
    Socrates

    “Esteemed friend, citizen of Athens, the greatest city in the world, so outstanding in both intelligence and power, aren’t you ashamed to care so much to make all the money you can, and to advance your reputation and prestige–while for truth and wisdom and the improvement of your soul you have no care or worry?” ― Socrates

  68. 68
    Socrates

    “My advice to you is get married: if you find a good wife you’ll be happy; if not, you’ll become a philosopher.” ― Socrates

  69. 69
    Socrates

    “To be is to do” ― Socrates

  70. 70
    Socrates

    “I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled [poets] to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.” ― Socrates

  71. 71
    Socrates

    “The highest realms of thought are impossible to reach without first attaining an understanding of compassion.” ― Socrates

  72. 72
    Socrates

    “I did not care for the things that most people care about– making money, having a comfortable home, high military or civil rank, and all the other activities, political appointments, secret societies, party organizations, which go on in our city . . . I set myself to do you– each one of you, individually and in private– what I hold to be the greatest possible service. I tried to persuade each one of you to concern himself less with what he has than with what he is, so as to render himself as excellent and as rational as possible.” ― Socrates

  73. 73
    Socrates

    “Virtue does not come from wealth, but. . . wealth, and every other good thing which men have. . . comes from virtue.” ― Socrates

  74. 74
    Socrates

    “To move the world we must move ourselves.” ― Socrates

  75. 75
    Socrates

    “Through your rags I see your vanity.” ― Socrates

  76. 76
    Socrates

    “The mind is everything; what you think you become” ― Socrates, The Psychology of Fate & of Free Will

  77. 77
    Socrates

    “Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued. ” ― Socrates

  78. 78
    Socrates

    “He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.” ― Socrates

  79. 79
    Socrates

    “Wisdom begins in wonder.” ― Socrates

  80. 80
    Socrates

    “I know you won’t believe me, but the highest form of Human Excellence is to question oneself and others.” ― Socrates

  81. 81
    Socrates

    “There is no solution; seek it lovingly ” ― Socrates

  82. 82
    Socrates

    “Is it true; is it kind, or is it necessary?” ― Socrates, Essential Thinkers – Socrates

  83. 83
    Socrates

    “When you want wisdom and insight as badly as you want to breathe, it is then you shall have it.” ― Socrates

  84. 84
    Socrates

    “And therefore if the head and the body are to be well, you must begin by curing the soul; that is the first and essential thing. And the care of the soul, my dear youth, has to be effected by the use of certain charms, and these charms are fair words; and by them temperance is implanted in the soul, and where temperance comes and stays, there health is speedily imparted, not only to the head, but to the whole body.” ― Socrates, Essential Thinkers – Socrates

  85. 85
    Socrates

    “God takes away the minds of poets, and uses them as his ministers, as he also uses diviners and holy prophets, in order that we who hear them may know them to be speaking not of themselves who utter these priceless words in a state of unconsciousness, but that God himself is the speaker, and that through them he is conversing with us. ” ― Socrates

  86. 86
    Socrates

    “Living well and beautifully and justly are all one thing.” ― Socrates

  87. 87
    Socrates

    “The misuse of language induces evil in the soul” ― Socrates

  88. 88
    Socrates

    “It is better to change an opinion than to persist in a wrong one.” ― Socrates

  89. 89
    Socrates

    “There is no greater evil one can suffer than to hate reasonable discourse.” ― Socrates

  90. 90
    Socrates

    “One who is injured ought not to return the injury, for on no account can it be right to do an injustice; and it is not right to return an injury, or to do evil to any man, however much we have suffered from him.” ― Socrates

  91. 91
    Socrates

    “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.” ― Socrates

  92. 92
    Socrates

    “Wisdom is knowing you know nothing” ― Socrates

  93. 93
    Socrates

    “One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing’.” ― Socrates, Apology

  94. 94
    Socrates

    “The law presumably says that it is finest to keep as quiet as possible in misfortunes and not be irritated, since the good and bad in such things aren’t plain, nor does taking it hard get one anywhere, not are any of the human things worthy of great seriousness…. One must accept the fall of the dice and settle one’s affairs accordingly– in whatever way argument declares would be best. One must not behave like children who have stumbled and who hold on to the hurt place and spend their time in crying out; rather one must always habituate the soul to turn as quickly as possible to curing and setting aright what has fallen and is sick, doing away with lament by medicine.” ― Socrates

  95. 95
    Socrates

    “How many things can I do without?” ― Socrates, Momentos

  96. 96
    Socrates

    “Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity.” ― Socrates

  97. 97
    Socrates

    “I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.” ― Socrates

  98. 98
    Socrates

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

  99. 99
    Socrates

    “One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing.” ― Socrates

  100. 100
    Socrates

    “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…” ― 

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