45 Quotes From Socrates That Are Full Of Wisdom

Socrates (born c. 470 BCE, Athens [Greece]—died 399 BCE, Athens) was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary Aristophanes¹.

Socrates believed that philosophy should achieve practical results for the greater well-being of society. He attempted to establish an ethical system based on human reason rather than theological doctrine².

View our collection of the greatest Socrates quotes about life, soul, and wisdom.

Quotes From Socrates

A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true. — Socrates

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

An honest man is always a child. — Socrates

As for me, all I know is that I know nothing. — Socrates

As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which course he will, he will be sure to repent. — Socrates

Be as you wish to seem. — Socrates

Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant. — Socrates

Beauty is a short-lived tyranny. — Socrates

Beauty is the bait which with delight allures man to enlarge his kind. — Socrates

Beware the barrenness of a busy life. — 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

Death may be the greatest of all human blessings. — Socrates

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

False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil. — Socrates

From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate. — Socrates

He is a man of courage who does not run away, but remains at his post and fights against the enemy. — Socrates

He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature. — Socrates

I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing. — 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

I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance. — Socrates

I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing. — Socrates

I only wish that ordinary people had an unlimited capacity for doing harm; then they might have an unlimited power for doing good. — Socrates

I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live. — Socrates

If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it. — Socrates

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

It is not living that matters, but living rightly. — Socrates

Let him that would move the world first move himself. — 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

Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued. — Socrates

Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior. — 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

Ordinary people seem not to realize that those who really apply themselves in the right way to philosophy are directly and of their own accord preparing themselves for dying and death. — Socrates

Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us. — Socrates

The end of life is to be like God, and the soul following God will be like Him. — Socrates

The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. — Socrates

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. — Socrates

The poets are only the interpreters of the Gods. — Socrates

The unexamined life is not worth living. — Socrates

The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. — Socrates

To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge. — Socrates

True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing. — Socrates

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

Where there is reverence there is fear, but there is not reverence everywhere that there is fear, because fear presumably has a wider extension than reverence. — Socrates

Wisdom begins in wonder. — Socrates

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