Rants, Raves, and Rhetoric from
the Right
Socrates - 469 B.C.
- 399 B.C.
Greek Philosopher
Do not do to others what angers you if done to you
by others.
Envy is the ulcer of the soul.
Get not your friends by
bare compliments, but by giving them sensible tokens of your love.
Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore
avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity.
Remember what is unbecoming to do is also unbecoming to speak of.
The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.
The shortest
and surest way to live with honour in the world, is to be in reality
what we would appear to be; and if we observe, we shall find, that
all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice
of them.
Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions;
but those who kindly reprove thy faults.
Bad men live that they may
eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.
True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing
And in knowing
that you know nothing, that makes you smartest of all.
Children today
are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food,
and tyrannize their teachers.
By all means marry; if you get a good
wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
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.
The only
good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.
Think not those
faithful who praise all thy words and actions; but those who kindly
reprove thy faults.
Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.
Having
the fewest wants, I am nearest to the gods.
I know nothing except
the fact of my ignorance.
I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen
of the world.
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.
I do nothing but go about
persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your
persons or your properties, but 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. This is my teaching, and if this is the doctrine
which corrupts the youth, I am a mischievous person.
True knowledge
exists in knowing that you know nothing.
And in knowing that you know
nothing, that makes you the smartest of all.
The greatest way to live
with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.
Not life,
but good life, is to be chiefly valued.
As for me, all I know is that
I know nothing.
He is richest who is content with the least.
If a man is proud
of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs
it.
Wind buffs up empty bladders; opinion, fools.
The end of life is
to be like God, and the soul following God will be like Him.
He who
is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what
he would like to have.
The unexamined life is not worth living to a
human.
The qualities which a man seeks in his beloved are those characteristics
of his own soul, whether he knows it or not.
You are providing for
your disciples a show of wisdom without the reality. For, acquiring
by your means much information unaided by instruction, they will appear
to possess much knowledge, while, in fact, they will, for the most
part, know nothing at all; and, moreover, be disagreeable people to
deal with, as having become wise in their own conceit, instead of
truly wise.
To find yourself, think for yourself.
I was afraid that
by observing objects with my eyes and trying to comprehend them with
each of my other senses I might blind my soul altogether.
When desire,
having rejected reason and overpowered judgment which leads to right,
is set in the direction of the pleasure which beauty can inspire .
. .
Whenever, therefore, people are deceived and form opinions wide
of the truth, it is clear that the error has slid into their minds
through the medium of certain resemblances to that truth.
Living well and beautifully and justly
are all one thing.
The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our
ways --I to die and you to live. Which is the better, only God knows.
But
already it is time to depart, for me to die, for you to go on living;
which of us takes the better course, is concealed from anyone except
God.
Presidents:
Pundits:
Philosophers:
Socrates
