Socratic Quotes

• Novels are the Socratic dialogues of our time. Practical wisdom fled from school wisdom into this liberal form.

  Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

  Wisdom, School, Form

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• The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.

  Socrates

  Life, Wisdom, Being Yourself

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• The pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Parmenides taught that the only things that are real are things which never change... and the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus taught that everything changes. If you superimpose their two views, you get this result: Nothing is real.

  Philip K. Dick

  Real, Views, Two

  Philip K. Dick (1995). “The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick: Selected Literary and Philosophical Writings”, Vintage

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• The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

  Socrates

  Wise, Wisdom, Philosophy

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• Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions, but those who kindly reprove thy faults.

  Socrates

  Faith, Wisdom, Thinking

  Socrates, Plato, Aristotle (1967). “Wit and Wisdom of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle: Being a Treasury of Thousands of Glorious, Inspiring and Imperishable Thoughts, Views and Observations of the Three Great Greek Philosophers, Classified Under about Four Hundred Subjects for Comparative Study”

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• I am a conservative. Quite possibly I am on the losing side; often I think so. Yet, out of a curious perversity I had rather lose with Socrates, let us say, than win with Lenin.

  Russell Kirk

  Winning, Thinking, Sides

  Russell Kirk (2014). “The Essential Russell Kirk: Selected Essays”, p.59, Open Road Media

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• The Socratic maxim that the recognition of our ignorance is the beginning of wisdom has profound significance for our understanding of society. Most of the advantages of social life, especially in the more advanced forms that we call "civilization" rest on the fact that the individual benefits from more knowledge than he is aware of. It might be said that civilization begins when the individual in the pursuit of his ends can make use of more knowledge than he has himself acquired and when he can transcend the boundaries of his ignorance by profiting from knowledge he does not himself possess.

  Friedrich August von Hayek

  Ignorance, Civilization, Profound

  "The Constitution of Liberty". Book by Friedrich Hayek, Part I. The Value of Freedom, Chap. 2 : The Creative Power of a Free Civilization, 1960.

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• Philosophy is an odd thing... There is no particular Socratic or Dimechian or Kantian way to live your life. They don't offer ethical codes and standards by which to live your life.

  Stephen Fry

  Philosophy, Live Your Life, Odd Things

  "Big Think Interview With Stephen Fry". bigthink.com. December 8, 2009.

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

  Socrates

  Inspirational, Life, Happiness

  Socrates, Plato, Aristotle (1967). “Wit and Wisdom of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle: Being a Treasury of Thousands of Glorious, Inspiring and Imperishable Thoughts, Views and Observations of the Three Great Greek Philosophers, Classified Under about Four Hundred Subjects for Comparative Study”

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

  Socrates

  Motivational, Happiness, Freedom

  "Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book that Changes Lives". Book by Dan Millman, p. 162, 2006.

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• There are two threats to reason, the opinion that one knows the truth about the most important things and the opinion that there is no truth about them. Both of these opinions are fatal to philosophy; the first asserts that the quest for truth is unnecessary, while the second asserts that it is impossible. The Socratic knowledge of ignorance, which I take to be the beginning point of all philosophy, defines the sensible middle ground between two extremes.

  Allan Bloom

  Philosophy, Ignorance, Two

  "Giants and Dwarfs". Book by Allan Bloom. Chapter: "Western Civ," p. 18, 1990.

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• Socratic question: all plans? Some? Which ones? How do they do so?

  Will Evans

  Entrepreneur, Plans

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• At heart, Sussman was a theoretician. In another age, he might have been a Talmudic scholar. He had cultivated a Socratic method, zinging question after question at the reporters: Who moved over from Commerce to CRP with Stans? What about Mitchell's secretary? Why won't anybody say when Liddy went to the White House or who worked with him there? Mitchell and Stans both ran the budget committee, right? What does that tell you? Then Sussman would puff on his pipe, a satisfied grin on his face.

  Carl Bernstein

  Heart, White, House

  Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward (1999). “All the President's Men”, p.51, Simon and Schuster

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• One should eat to live, not live to eat.

  Moliere

  Inspiring, Food, Weight Loss

  1668 L' Avare, act 3, sc.1.

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• The only way to learn mathematics is to do mathematics. That tenet is the foundation of the do-it-yourself, Socratic, or Texas method.

  Paul Halmos

  Education, Knowledge, Math

  P.R. Halmos, Paul Richard Halmos (1982). “A Hilbert Space Problem Book”, p.7, Springer Science & Business Media

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• I am completely Socratic.

  James C. Collins

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• Active learning is always involved with interaction between teachers and students and Socratic methods and that's gonna continue.

  Joseph Stiglitz

  Teacher, Students, Method

  Source: www.businessinsider.com

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• The Socratic teacher turns his students away from himself and back onto themselves; he hides in paradoxes, makes himself inaccessible. The intimate relationship between student and teacher here is not one of submission, but of a contest for truth.

  Karl Jaspers

  Teacher, Intimate Relationships, Students

  Karl Jaspers (1965). “The idea of the university”

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• Every action has its pleasures and its price.

  Socrates

  Life, Action, Pleasure

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• Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of - for credit is like fire; when once you have kindled it you may easily preserve it, but if you once extinguish it, you will find it an arduous task to rekindle it again. The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.

  Socrates

  Inspirational, Jewels, Names

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• He is the richest who is content with the least.

  Socrates

  Inspirational, Greek, Contentment

  Socrates, Plato, Aristotle (1967). “Wit and Wisdom of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle: Being a Treasury of Thousands of Glorious, Inspiring and Imperishable Thoughts, Views and Observations of the Three Great Greek Philosophers, Classified Under about Four Hundred Subjects for Comparative Study”

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• I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.

  Steve Jobs

  Inspirational, Education, Technology

  Newsweek magazine, October 29, 2001.

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• To find yourself, think for yourself.

  Socrates

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

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• Beware the barrenness of a busy life.

  Socrates

  Life, Time, Simple

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• The unexamined life is not worth living.

  Socrates

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  In Plato 'Apology' 38a

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