77 quotes
If the entire soul, then, follows without rebellion the part which loves wisdom, the result is that in general each part can carry out its own function—can be just, in other words—and in particular each is able to enjoy pleasures which are its own, the best, and, as far as possible, the truest. ... When one of the other parts takes control, there are two results: it fails to discover its own proper pleasure, and it compels the other parts to pursue a pleasure which is not their own, and not true.
I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled [poets] to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.
As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.
Misattributed
Contentment is natural wealth; luxury, artificial poverty.
Attributed
Prefer knowledge to wealth, for the one is transitory, and the other perpetual.
Misattributed
True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.
Misattributed
Exercise till the mind feels delight in reposing from the fatigue.
Misattributed
The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.
Misattributed
The really important thing is not to live, but to live well. And to live well meant, along with more enjoyable things in life, to live according to your principles.
Misattributed
The state will only ever be a half of itself.
Attributed
The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.
Misattributed No findable citation to Socrates. Found ascribed to Socrates in Stephen Covey (1992)
If we are to use women for the same things as the men, we must also teach them the same things.
Attributed
Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.
Misattributed
When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.
Misattributed
By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
Misattributed
The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.
Misattributed
Socrates: Shall we set down astronomy among the objects of study? Glaucon: I think so, to know something about the seasons, the months and the years is of use for military purposes, as well as for agriculture and for navigation. Socrates: It amuses me to see how afraid you are, lest the common herd of people should accuse you of recommending useless studies.
Attributed