SOCRATES

"Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued."

"The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms."

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

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

"There is no solution; seek it lovingly."

"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."

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

"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."

"The greatest blessing granted to mankind come by way of madness, which is a divine gift."

"Every action has its pleasures and its price."

"The answer I gave myself and the oracle was that it was to my advantage to be as I am."

"I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think."

"The greatest way to live with honour in this world is to be what we pretend to be."

"The great honor in the world is to be what we pretend to be."

"Now the hour to part has come. I go to die, you go to live. Which of us goes to the better lot is known to no one, except the god."

"Be as you wish to seem."

"Those who are hardest to love need it the most."

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."

"Understanding a question is half an answer."

"Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people."

"Wisdom begins in wonder."

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

"Wealth does not bring about excellence, but excellence makes wealth and everything else good for men, both individually and collectively."

"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."

"Intelligent individuals learn from every thing and every one; average people, from their experiences. The stupid already have all the answers."

"We cannot live better than in seeking to become better."

"The unexamined life is not worth living."

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

"The hottest love has the coldest end."

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

"Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel."

"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."

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

"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."

"Wonder is the beginning of wisdom."

"Let him who would move the world first move himself."

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

"He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have."

"Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others."

"An unexamined life is not worth living."

"Be slow to fall into friendship, but when you are in, continue firm and constant."

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

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

"When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser."

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

"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."