The Best Quotes by Socrates (Real Quotes with References)

Lennox Johnson Quotes

This page features a selection of the best quotes by Socrates. All of these quotes are real and references are given after each quote.

Here are the best quotes by Socrates in no particular order:

The unexamined life is not worth living.

– as quoted in Plato, Apology, 28A, trans. Benjamin Jowett


He, O men, is the wisest, who, like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing.

– as quoted in Plato, Apology, 23B, trans. Benjamin Jowett


I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but first and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul. I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man, public as well as private.

– as quoted in Plato, Apology, 30B, trans. Benjamin Jowett


The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways—I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows.

– as quoted in Plato, Apology, 42A, trans. Benjamin Jowett


[on looking at an expensive shop] How many things I can do without!

– as quoted in Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, II, 25, trans. Robert Drew Hicks


No man voluntarily pursues evil, or that which he thinks to be evil. To prefer evil to good is not in human nature; and when a man is compelled to chose one of two evils, no one will choose the greater when he may have the less.

– as quoted in Plato, Protagoras, 358C, trans. W.R.M. Lamb


If you are wise, all men will be your friends and kindred, for you will be useful and good; but if you are not wise, neither father, nor mother, nor kindred; nor anyone else, will be your friends.

– as quoted in Plato, Lysis, 210B, trans. Benjamin Jowett


We ought not to retaliate or render evil for evil to anyone, whatever evil we may have suffered from him.

– as quoted in Plato, Crito, 49C, trans. Benjamin Jowett


Not life, but a good life, is to be chiefly valued

– as quoted in Plato, Crito, 48C, trans. Benjamin Jowett


To do is more disgraceful than to suffer injustice.

– as quoted in Plato, Gorgias, 489B, trans. Benjamin Jowett


If you want to learn more about Socrates, check out the following pages:


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A History of Western Philosophy in 500 Essential Quotations – Lennox Johnson

Publisher’s Description: A History of Western Philosophy in 500 Essential Quotations is a collection of the greatest thoughts from history’s greatest thinkers. Featuring classic quotations by Aristotle, Epicurus, David Hume, Friedrich Nietzsche, Bertrand Russell, Michel Foucault, and many more, A History of Western Philosophy in 500 Essential Quotations is ideal for anyone looking to quickly understand the fundamental ideas that have shaped the modern world.

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