Socrates (c. 470 BC–399 BC), the great philosopher of ancient Greece, left behind wisdom that still speaks to us today. His words challenge us to think deeply, question everything, and strive for self-improvement. Whether it’s about knowledge, virtue, or the meaning of life, Socrates' insights can guide us toward clarity and growth. In this article, we’ll explore some of his most powerful quotes and how they can inspire us to live with wisdom, courage, and purpose.
By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.
Socrates
Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.
Socrates
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
Socrates
There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.
Socrates
Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.
Socrates
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
Socrates
I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.
Socrates
Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.
Socrates
To find yourself, think for yourself.
Socrates
The unexamined life is not worth living.
Socrates
Know thyself.
Socrates
Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.
Socrates
Be slow to fall into friendship, but when you are in, continue firm and constant.
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
Let him who would move the world first move himself.
Socrates
Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.
Socrates
Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.
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
The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.
Socrates
He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.
Socrates
The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.
Socrates
Every action has its pleasures and its price.
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
Prefer knowledge to wealth, for the one is transitory, the other perpetual.
Socrates
Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.
Socrates
I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
Socrates
Beware the barrenness of a busy life.
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
Understanding a question is half an answer.
Socrates
We cannot live better than in seeking to become better.
Socrates
