70 phrases of Socrates to understand his thought.

Interesting reflections proposed by one of the first philosophers of ancient Greece.

Socrates is considered the father of Western philosophy.although he did not worry too much about making him known to future generations. He left no known written work, and almost everything that is known about him is due to the writings of his disciple Plato.

The phrases of Socrates that you can read below reflect the essence of his philosophy, very focused on morality and the method by which the human being can obtain knowledge.

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The best phrases of Socrates

 

Below you can see a selection of phrases of Socrates that can be very helpful to understand why the thought of this philosopher continues to influence us today.

1. An honest man is always a child

For Socrates, honesty was closely related to the way children always ask questions about what they know and are constantly open to the possibility of admitting that what they believed to be true is not true.

2. Knowledge begins in wonder

The pang of feeling that there is a part of reality that we do not understand was, for Socrates, what drives us to acquire knowledge.

3. A life that has not been examined is not worth living

Philosophy was for Socrates one of the pillars of life experience, as expressed in this sentence.

4. Speak so that I may know you

Each person's way of being, and the way he or she sees the world, can be known through dialogue, a context in which two people relate to each other and can ask each other questions.

5. A friend should be like money; before you need it, you need to know its value.

One of Socrates' phrases about friendship with a more pragmatic sense.

6. The only true knowledge is to know that you know nothing.

One of Socrates' best known phrases, it expresses the humility with which the philosopher faced his task and the radicalism with which he understood that all aspects of reality must be questioned.

7. Not life, but the good life, is what should be most valued.

Life must be valued qualitatively in order to appreciate it well.according to this Greek philosopher.

8. The wicked souls can only be conquered by gifts.

Socrates speaks here about the self-interested and opportunistic moods that guide certain relationships.

9. There is only one good: knowledge. There is only one evil: ignorance

Socrates related the attainment of knowledge to morality, something his pupil Plato also did.

10. Fear the love of a woman more than the hatred of man.

The misogyny of the early Greek philosophers was practically a constant, although in their historical context it was widespread.

11. The supreme degree of knowledge is to examine why

This type of question was the driving force that allowed Socrates to inquire into the great subjects he proposed to study.

12. Beauty is an ephemeral tyranny

Beauty causes expectations and passions that generate oppression and violence.

13. The greatest of all mysteries is man.

Man's very existence was so enigmatic that philosophers like Socrates were driven to ask ambitious questions.

14. It is worse to carry out an injustice than to commit it, since the one who commits it becomes unjust but the other does not.

For Socrates, the nature of each person is constituted by what he does, not by what he says.. Therefore, our actions serve to transform us.

15. Death could be the greatest blessing of all.

Even the usual conception of death can be philosophically revised, something that is embodied in this phrase of Socrates.

16. Neither kings nor rulers carry the scepter, but those who know how to command.

A formal title is no guarantee of power, according to Socrates.

17. An uninhibited man cannot generate affection, because he is difficult to deal with and closes the door to friendship.

For this philosopher, pursuing immediate pleasures and appreciating great passions makes us individualistic and distant.

18. We must not let the grass grow in the path of friendship.

Cultivating friendships was something that, for Socrates, should be approached actively, without letting time pass and the relationship deteriorate.

19. Let him who will move the world first move himself.

A call not to listen to people who claim that they are going to promote great changes by encouraging others to initiate this task.

20. A morality that is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion.

Socrates was very much opposed to the relativism of the sophists, and he believed that morality should be based on rationally believed that morality should be based on rationally well-grounded principles..

21. I wish that ordinary people had unlimited power to do wrong, and then unlimited power to do right

Since morality is trained through actions, being involved in situations with a marked positive or negative value would help to establish solid ethical principles.

22. God alone is the ultimate sage

One of Aristotle's phrases on the attainment of knowledge. Since human beings are always subject to the limited amount of time and space at their disposal, only someone belonging to the world of the divine can know everything.

23. I am a citizen not of Athens or Greece, but of the world.

The desire to establish a universal morality and a method of obtaining knowledge that is always valid, as well as his rejection of relativism, made Aristotle a person whose vital space was the whole world, and not just one region.

24. The past has its codes and customs

Everything we see in retrospect is bound by conventions and protocols that fix it to the historical context to which it belonged.

25. Anyone who holds a true opinion on a subject he does not understand is like a blind man on the right path.

To have arrived at a correct conclusion is no guarantee that the reasoning process was correct.

26. Poets do not create poetry through wisdom, but through a kind of inspiration that may be found in prophets or seers, for they can say many beautiful things without knowing what they mean

Socrates emphasizes the need to create knowledge through reason, without obeying aesthetic criteria.

27. To find yourself, think for yourself.

A phrase of Socrates in favor of creating one's own criteria through reflection.

28. When the debate has been lost, slander is the loser's tool.

Slandering the opponent only serves to express frustration, not to weaken the opponent.

29. Luxury is artificial poverty

For this philosopher, ostentation reveals a banal need to appear, which reveals an emptiness.

30. I wish knowledge were the kind of thing that flows from the vessel that is full to those that remain empty.

Socrates reflects on the social implications of the scarcity of knowledge.

31. The best sauce is hunger

This phrase of Socrates can be understood as a reflection on the role that the superficial plays when it comes to setting goals: absence is an engine that drives us towards action more directly than additives.

32. Every action has its pleasures and its price

All actions have positive and negative nuances, and it is necessary to know when they are appropriate through reflection.

33. Only knowledge that comes from within is true knowledge.

Socrates believed that wisdom arises from the examination of truths which, properly examined, are self-evident, and therefore independent of what is known about our surroundings. This idea greatly influenced Plato.

34. If I had devoted myself to politics I would have died long ago.

Socrates here ridicules the logics by which politics operatewhich the philosopher related to appearances and hidden interests.

35. Do not do to others what would infuriate you if done to you by others.

A phrase reminiscent of the moral system developed by Immanuel Kant centuries after the death of Socrates.

36. I prefer knowledge to wealth, for the former is perennial, while the latter is outdated.

The attainment of knowledge is something that is marked in one's personality, for Socrates.

37. To say that something is natural means that it can be applied to anything

The principle of the natural is that it is valid in all contexts, according to the Greek philosopher.

38. To begin well is not too little, but it is not too much, either

Beginnings can be seen as significant progress, but in themselves they are of little value if they are not followed by other actions.

39. The hottest love has the coldest ending

A reflection on those love relationships marked by passions.

40. The deepest desires often give rise to the most deadly hatreds.

Controlling passions and desires is a constant recommendation in Socrates' phrases.

41. The richest is he who is content with little

Humility was for Socrates one more quality in which one could stand out or not, but which was always practical.

42. I would rather have the multitudes disagree with me than find myself out of harmony with myself.

Honesty and honoring the truth were values that Socrates believed to be indispensable.

43. Today's children are tyrants: they contradict their parents, gobble up their food and act like tyrants before their teachers.

A phrase that, in spite of being Socrates', many people today make their own.

44. The noblest way is not to subdue others, but to perfect oneself.

Even when different ideas clash, the goal is not so much to win an argument as to improve oneself through it.

45. To be is to do

An idea that has already echoed in other phrases of Socrates: one becomes something through practice and not through preaching..

46. Keep a good mind about death, and make this truth your own: that nothing bad can happen to a good man, either during life or after death.

The good equated with knowledge was for Socrates an element of such importance that reaching it caused that which is perceived as evil to dissipate.

47. Through your rags I see your vanity

A very powerful phrase through which Socrates speaks about superficiality.

48. Those who are most difficult to love are those who need it most.

A reflection on love and the way it affects certain personality types.

49. Is it not a shame for man that the same thing happens to him as happens to the most irrational animals?

The distinction between rational and irrational beings marked the thought of Socrates.

50. The misuse of language introduces evil into our soul.

For Socrates, speaking properly and using the right terms was a prerequisite for accessing the truth.

51. Understanding oneself is the beginning of knowledge.

The philosophical task begins with the examination of one's own ideas.

52. Make the public and private facets of man one.

One of Socrates' phrases that reflect his appreciation for honesty.

53. It is better to change one's mind than to stick to the wrong one.

A reflection on the need to let go of what is false.

54. Poets are only God's interpreters.

As reflected in another phrase about the poets, for Socrates they had no direct access to the truth.

55. Pride begets the tyrant

For the philosopher, pride generates an accumulation of desires and intentions that has a detrimental effect on everyone.

56. I am well aware that I am not wise at all.

Another of Socrates' phrases that refer to the humility with which he approached his task as a philosopher

57. Be kind to everyone, for each person fights some kind of battle.

One of the moral reflections of this philosopher.

58. I will never fear or avoid something I do not know.

That which is not well understood cannot generate fear, according to Socrates.

59. I call myself a peaceful warrior, because the battles we fight take place within ourselves.

This reflection emphasizes the introspective character of Socrates' task..

60. Excellence is a habit

For this thinker, one is what one does.

61. The passage of time wrinkles your skin, but lack of enthusiasm wrinkles your soul.

A distinction between the physical world and the world of the soul.

62. To understand a question is to already have half an answer

A perspective according to which the truth is already intuited in the questions that lead to it.

63. All wars are fought to accumulate wealth.

Socrates' was a dispassionate view of wars.

64. The greatest blessing bestowed on mankind may come from the hand of madness.

A curious way of understanding the possibilities brought about by an unconventional way of thinking.

65. The fact of not having great desires is something divine.

Another of Socrates' phrases about the asceticism with which he faced life..

66. To find yourself, think for yourself.

A simple aphorism about philosophy.

67. Lies are the greatest killers, for they kill the truth.

The search for truth was one of the main maxims of this philosopher's life.

68. Envy is the ulcer of the soul

A curious way of speaking about envy in moral terms.

69. This is a universe that does not favor the timid

A reflection on the way in which Greek society valued this personality trait.

70. Nothing is learned as well as what is discovered

Another of the reflections on the learning process.