Top 15 Socrates Quotes

5th-century BCE Greek philosopher

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Socrates (Σωκράτης; c. 470 BC – 399 BC) was a classical Greek (Athenian) philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy. Through his portrayal in Plato's dialogues, Socrates has become renowned for his contribution to the field of ethics, and it is this Platonic Socrates who lends his name to the concepts of Socratic irony and the Socratic method, or elenchus. The latter remains a commonly used tool in a wide range of discussions, and is a type of pedagogy in which a series of questions is asked not only to draw individual answers, but also to encourage fundamental insight into the issue at hand.

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Native Name: Σωκράτης

Alternative Names: Sokrates • Sokratis

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The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

The unexamined life is not worth living.

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

There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.

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

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

Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.

To find yourself, think for yourself.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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