Wise Words of Socrates

Socrates (469-399 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher and one of the originators of Western philosophy. He is most known for the Socratic method, which involves repeatedly asking questions instead of relaying information. Due to his unconventional style and outspoken pursuit of the truth, he was sentenced to death for corrupting the youth of Athens.

Below we list some words of wisdom from Socrates.

“No one can teach, if by teaching we mean the transmission of knowledge, in any mechanical fashion, from one person to another. The most that can be done is that one person who is more knowledgeable than another can, by asking a series of questions, stimulate the other to think, and so cause him to learn for himself.”

“A free soul ought not to pursue any study slavishly, for nothing that is learned under compulsion stays with the mind.”

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

“Most people, including ourselves, live in a world of relative ignorance. We are even comfortable with that ignorance, because it is all we know. When we first start facing truth, the process may be frightening, and many people run back to their old lives. But if you continue to seek truth, you will eventually be able to handle it better. In fact, you want more! It's true that many people around you now may think you are weird or even a danger to society, but you don't care. Once you've tasted the truth, you won't ever want to go back to being ignorant.”

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

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

“He is the richest who is content with the least.”

“If all the misfortunes of mankind were cast into a public stack in order to be equally distributed among the whole species, those who now think themselves the most unhappy would prefer the share they are already possessed of before that which would fall to them by such a division.”

“Falling down is not a failure. Failure comes when you stay where you have fallen.”

“Awareness of ignorance is the beginning of wisdom.”

“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.”

“To find yourself, think for yourself.”

“To Believe without evidence and demonstration is an act of ignorance and folly.”

“Serenity, regularity, absence of vanity,Sincerity, simplicity, veracity, equanimity, Fixity, non-irritability, adaptability, Humility, tenacity, integrity, nobility, magnanimity, charity, generosity, purity. Practise daily these eighteen "ities" You will soon attain immortality.”

“Obligation sends the children to bed on time, but love tucks the covers in around their necks and passes out kisses and hugs. Yesterday is about experience; tomorrow is about hope; today is about transitioning from one to the other. The happiest people on earth don't have the best of everything... they make the best of everything I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.”

“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.”

“Every action has its pleasures and its price.”

“The body cannot be cured without regard for the soul.”

“The soul then, as being immortal, and having been born again many times, and having seen all things that exist, whether in this world or in the world below, has knowledge of them all . . . all enquiry and all learning is but recollection.”

“The uninitiated are those who believe in nothing except what they can grasp in their hands, and who deny the existence of all that is invisible.”

Copyright © Scott Petullo, Stephen Petullo