24 of his most important quotes that everyone should read!
Socrates (470 / 469-399 BC) was a Greek philosopher and is considered the father of Western philosophy. He is widely regarded as one of the wisest men of all time.
We know very little about his life. He left no written testimony and most knowledge comes from dialogues with his most famous student, Plato, and from the memoirs of Xenophon.
Socrates is described as neglecting his own affairs and instead spending his time discussing virtue, justice, and piety, where his fellow citizens gathered in search of wisdom for the proper conduct that would lead Athens to moral and spiritual improvement.
Using a method now known as Socratic dialogue or dialectic, he helped his students gain knowledge by following a series of questions and examining the consequences of their answers.
However, with his tragic "suicidal" death, he left behind a vast amount of knowledge.
Let's remember his infinite wisdom by reading 24 famous quotes from one of the wisest people who ever lived:
"The only true wisdom is to know that you know nothing."
"Without a purpose, life is not worth living."
"There is only one good, knowledge, and one bad, ignorance."
"I can't teach anyone anything. "I can only teach him to think."
"Be polite, every person you meet gives a hard fight."
"Great minds discuss ideas, mediocre minds discuss facts, weak minds discuss others."
"If you marry a good woman, you will be happy. If you marry a bad one, you will become a philosopher."
"If you are not happy with what you have, you will not be happy with what you would like to have."
"If you don't get what you want, you will suffer. If you take something you don't want, you will suffer again. Even if you get exactly what you want, you will suffer because you can't keep it forever. Our mind is programmed to be dissatisfied. It wants to be free from change. Without pain, without the obligations of life and death. But change is the law and no amount of pretending will change that reality."
"Sometimes you build walls not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to tear them down."
"The beginning of wisdom is the search."
"To find yourself, you have to think for yourself."
"Education is the lighting of the flame, not the filling of a vessel."
"Know thyself."
"To change the world, you must first change yourself."
"The secret to happiness is no longer in seeking it, but in developing the ability to be satisfied with as little as possible."
"The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on how to fight the old, but on how to build the new."
"I am neither an Athenian nor a Greek, but a citizen of the world."
"Prefer knowledge to wealth, for wealth is transitory, while knowledge is eternal."
"Understanding the question is half the answer."
"True wisdom comes to each of us when we realise how little we know about life, ourselves, and the world around us."
"The richest person is the one who is satisfied with as little as possible."
"To exist is to do."
"The mind is everything. We eventually become what we think about most."
