Socrates is considered the father of Western philosophy , although he did not care much about making himself 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 sentences of Socrates that you can read below contain the essence of his philosophy, very centred on morals and the method by which human beings can obtain knowledge.

The best of Socrates’ sentences

Below you can see a selection of phrases from Socrates that can be very helpful in understanding why this philosopher’s thinking still influences us today.

1. An honest man is always a child

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

2. Knowledge begins in amazement

The prick 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

For Socrates, philosophy was one of the pillars of life experience, as expressed in this sentence.

4. Talk so I can get to know you

Each person’s way of being, and the way they see the world, can be known through dialogue, a context in which two people relate to each other and questions can be asked.

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 meaning.

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

One of Socrates’ best-known phrases 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

According to this Greek philosopher, life must be valued qualitatively in order to appreciate it well .

8. Wicked souls are only conquered by gifts

Socrates talks here about the self-serving, opportunistic moods that guide certain relationships.

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

Socrates linked the acquisition of knowledge with morality, something that his pupil Plato also did.

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

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

11. The ultimate degree of knowledge is to examine why

This type of question was the driving force that allowed Socrates to investigate the great themes he intended 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 themselves ambitious questions.

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

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

15. Death could be the greatest of blessings

Even the usual conception of death can be revised philosophically, which is reflected in this sentence 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. Do not let the grass grow on the path of friendship

Cultivating friendships was something that, for Socrates, had to be actively addressed, without allowing time to pass and the relationship to deteriorate.

19. Let him who is going to move the world first move himself

A call not to listen to people who claim they will promote great changes by encouraging others to start this task.

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

Socrates was very much opposed to the relativism of the Sophists, and believed that morality should be based on well-established rational principles .

21. I wish that ordinary people had unlimited power to do evil and then unlimited power to do good

Since morality is trained through acts, getting 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 about obtaining knowledge. Since human beings are always subject to the limited amount of time and space available to them, only someone from the world of the divine can know everything.

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

The spirit of establishing a universal morality and an always valid method of obtaining knowledge, as well as his rejection of relativism, made Aristotle a person whose living space was the whole world, and not just a region.

24. The past has its codes and customs

Everything we see in retrospect is linked to 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

Having reached an accurate conclusion is no guarantee that the reasoning process was successful.

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

Socrates emphasizes the need to create knowledge through reason, to obey aesthetic criteria.

27. To find yourself, think for yourself

A phrase from Socrates in favour of creating one’s own criteria through reflection.

28. When the debate is lost, slander is the loser’s tool

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

29. Luxury is artificial poverty

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

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

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

31. The best sauce is hunger

This phrase from Socrates can be understood as a reflection on the role of the superficial in setting objectives: absence is a motor that drives us towards action in a more direct way than additives.

32. Every share has its pleasures and its price

All actions have both positive and negative nuances, and one must know when they are appropriate through reflection.

33. Only knowledge that comes from within is true knowledge

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

34. If I had gone into politics I would have died long ago

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

35. Don’t do to others what would make you angry if others did to you

A phrase that recalls the moral system developed by Immanuel Kant centuries after Socrates’ death.

36. I prefer knowledge to wealth, since the former is perennial, while the latter is obsolete

For Socrates, obtaining knowledge is something that remains marked in one’s personality.

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

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

38. A good start is not a small thing, but it’s not a big thing either

Beginnings can be seen as significant progress, but in themselves they are not worth much 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. From the deepest desires often arise the most deadly hatreds

Controlling passions and desires is a constant recommendation in Socrates’ sentences.

41. The richest is the one who is content with little

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

42. I would rather have the crowds 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, despite being from Socrates, many people make their own today.

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

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

45. To be is to do

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

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

For Socrates, the good that is comparable to knowledge was an element of such importance that reaching it made that which is perceived as bad dissipate.

47. Through your rags I see your vanity

A very powerful phrase through which Socrates talks about superficiality.

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

A reflection on love and how it affects certain personality types.

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

The distinction between rational and irrational beings marked Socrates’ thinking.

50. The misuse of language introduces evil into our soul

For Socrates, speaking properly and using the right terms was a requirement for access to 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 sides of man one

One of Socrates’ phrases reflecting his appreciation of honesty.

53. It is better to change your mind than to stay in the wrong one

A reflection on the need to shed the false.

54. Poets are only the interpreters of God

As another sentence about poets reflects, for Socrates they did not have 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 referring to the humility with which he faced his task as a philosopher

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

One of this philosopher’s moral reflections.

58. I will never fear or avoid something I don’t know

What 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

This reflection emphasizes the introspective nature of Socrates’ task .

60. Excellence is a habit

For this thinker, you are what you do.

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 have already half an answer

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

63. All wars occur to accumulate wealth

Socrates’ was a dispassionate view of war.

64. The greatest blessing given to mankind can come from the hand of madness

A curious way of understanding the possibilities that an unconventional way of thinking brings with it.

65. 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

Funny way of talking about envy in moral terms.

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

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

70. Nothing is learned as well as what is discovered

Another reflection on the learning process .