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 More Quotes by Socrates More Quotes From Socrates In order that the mind should see light instead of darkness, so the entire soul must be turned away from this changing world, until its eye can learn to contemplate reality and that supreme splendor which we have called the good. Hence there may well be an art whose aim would be to effect this very thing. Socrates eye reality art True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing. And in knowing that you know nothing, that makes you the smartest of all. Socrates true-knowledge knowing knowledge A painter will paint a cobbler, carpenter, or any other artist, though he knows nothing of their arts; and, if he is a good artist, he may deceive children or simple persons, when he shows them his picture of a carpenter from a distance, and they will fancy that they are looking at a real carpenter. Socrates distance children art I have lived long enough to learn how much there is I can really do without.... He is nearest to God who needs the fewest things. Socrates enough long needs To fear death is nothing other than to think oneself wise when one is not. For it is to think one knows what one does not know. No one knows whether death may not even turn out to be the greatest blessings of human beings. And yet people fear it as if they knew for certain it is the greatest evil. Socrates wise death thinking For who is there but you? - who not only claim to be a good man and a gentleman, for many are this, and yet have not the power of making others good. Whereas you are not only good yourself, but also the cause of goodness in others. Socrates good-man gentleman men A free soul ought not to pursue any study slavishly, for nothing that is learned under compulsion stays with the mind. Socrates study soul mind One thing I know, that I know nothing. This is the source of my wisdom. Socrates source greek people The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death. Socrates faster running death Virtue does not come from wealth, but wealth, and every other good thing which men have comes from virtue. Socrates wealth doe men True perfection is a bold quest to seek. Only the willing and true of heart will seek the betterment of many. Socrates quests perfection heart If we pursue our habit of eating animals, and if our neighbour follows a similar path, will we need to go to war against our neighbour to secure greater pasturage, because ours will not be enough to sustain us, and our neighbour will have a similar need to wage war on us for the same reason. Socrates animal war needs Well I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of; but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance. At any rate it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know. Socrates ignorance wisdom knowledge 'Wars, factions, and fighting,' said Socrates as he looked forward from his last hour, 'have no other origin than this same body and its lusts... We must set the soul free from it; we must behold things as they are. And having thus got rid of the foolishness of the body, we shall be pure and hold converse with the pure, and shall in our own selves have complete knowledge of the Incorruptible which is, I take it, no other than the very truth. Socrates fighting self war It is better to make a mistake with full force of your being than to carefully avoid mistakes with a trembling spirit. Socrates spirit courage mistake When our feet hurt, we hurt all over. Socrates hurt feet Let us reflect in this way, too, that there is good hope that death is a blessing, for it is one of two things: either the dead are nothing and have no perception of anything, or it is, as we are told, a change and a relocation for the soul from here to another place. Socrates apology blessing two I only wish that ordinary people had an unlimited capacity for doing harm; then they might have an unlimited power for doing good. Socrates wish might people The man who is truly wise knows that he knows very little. Socrates wise littles men Beauty comes first. Victory is secondary. What matters is joy. Socrates victory what-matters joy
