Socrates: Quotes & Lessons

Socrates wrote nothing. Every line below comes from his students — mostly Plato — so this is Socrates as Plato remembered, and shaped, him. References use the standard Stephanus page numbers.

Eric Gaba, CC BY-SA 2.5

Famous Quotes

1. “The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being.”

   Plato, Apology 38a

   A life you never question is a life you are only partly living.

2. “I am wiser than this man to this small extent: I do not think I know what I do not know.”

   Plato, Apology 21d

   Wisdom starts with an honest map of your own ignorance.

3. “Are you not ashamed of your eagerness to possess as much wealth, reputation and honours as possible, while you do not care for nor give thought to wisdom or truth, or the best possible state of your soul?”

   Plato, Apology 29d–e

   Ask what you are actually tending: your possessions, or yourself.

4. “Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.”

   Plato, Theaetetus 155d

   Curiosity, not certainty, is where thinking starts.

5. “To do wrong is worse than to suffer it.”

   The claim Socrates defends in Plato, Gorgias 469b–475e

   The deepest harm of injustice falls on the one who commits it.

6. “No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death.”

   Plato, Apology 41d

   What matters most in you cannot be taken by others.

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

   Plato, Apology 42a

   Even facing death, he refused to pretend to knowledge he did not have.

8. “Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius. Pay it and do not neglect it.”

   Plato, Phaedo 118a — his last words

   A puzzle to this day: perhaps thanks to the god of healing, as if death were a cure.

Since Socrates left no writing, everything above comes through students like Plato — papyrus of Plato's Symposium, public domain

Often Misattributed

These circulate widely under the same name, but don’t hold up:

• “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” A popular compression of Apology 21d (quoted above). Socrates’ actual claim is narrower and less paradoxical: he knows that he does not know.
• “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” From Dan Millman’s 1980 novel Way of the Peaceful Warrior, where it is said by a modern character nicknamed “Socrates”.

Main Philosophies & Lessons

Socrates emphasized dialogue, questioning, and self-knowledge. His lessons encourage critical thinking and the pursuit of wisdom through inquiry.