Authentic Socrates Quotes From His Dialogues Found In Various Books

This is definitely authentic Socrates quotes collection taken from his dialogues.

All the quotes published below can be found in: “The Complete Dialogues Of Plato“, “Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius“, “The Whole Works Of Xenophon” and “Plutarch’s Morals By Plutarch“.

Please be informed.

All those pithy and profound-sounding quotes which claimed to by Socrates are NOT TRUE.

Most, of not all of those quotations can be found in many quotes websites and even old published books.

All of them do not cite the sources of the so-called Socrates quotes.

In addition, some of these quotations are actually loosely paraphrased from Socrates’ long dialogues.

authentic Socrates quotesThe classical Greek (Athenian) philosopher Socrates never wrote anything.

All those quotes are actually dialogues said to be uttered by Socrates, when he was having discussion with fellow philosophers and friends.

Most of his dialogues were recorded or written by his student Plato.

Authentic Socrates Quotes With Citations

Now, let’s go through my list of authentic Socrates quotes:

“…the unexamined life is not worth living…” – Socrates

()

Another English translation:

“…a life without investigation is not worth living…” – Socrates

()

“…there is great reason to hope that death is a good; for one of two things – either death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness…” – Socrates

()

Another English translation:

“…death is a blessing. For to die is one of two things for either the dead may be annihilated and have no sensation of any thing whatever…” – Socrates

()

“…my plainness of speech makes them hate me and what is their hatred but a proof that I am speaking the truth?” – Socrates

()

“The difficulty my friends, is not to avoid death, but to avoid unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death .” – Socrates

()

Another English translation:

“O Athenians, to escape death, but it is much more difficult to avoid depravity, for it runs swifter than death.” – Socrates

()

“…I am better off than he is for he knows nothing and thinks that he knows. I neither know nor think that I know. In this latter particular then I seem to have slightly the advantage of him.” – Socrates

()

Another English translation:

“…I am wiser than this man, for neither of us appear to know anything great and good: but he fancies he knows something, although he knows nothing, whereas I as I do not know any thing so I do not fancy I do. In this trifling particular, then I appear to be wiser than him, because I do not fancy I know what I do not know.” – Socrates

()

“For the fear of death is indeed the pretense of wisdom and not real wisdom being a pretense of knowing the unknown…” – Socrates

()

Another English translation:

“For to fear death, O Athenians, is nothing else than to appear to be wise, without being so; for it is to appear to know what one does not know.” – Socrates

(The Apology Of Socrates As Written By His Friend And Pupil, Plato, Translated Into English By Henry Cary, Alwilshop, Ridgewood, New Jersey, 1901; p.44)

“…I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows.” – Socrates

(Apology By Plato Translated Into English With Introduction By Benjamin Jowett; p.48)

Another English translation:

“…for me to die, for you to live but which of us is going to a better state is unknown to every one but God.” – Socrates

(The Apology Of Socrates As Written By His Friend And Pupil, Plato, Translated Into English By Henry Cary, Alwilshop, Ridgewood, New Jersey, 1901; p.68)

“…no one knows whether death, which men in their fear apprehend to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good. Is not this ignorance of a disgraceful sort, the ignorance which is the conceit that a man knows what he does not know?” – Socrates

()

Another English translation:

“For no one knows but that death is the greatest of all goods to man; but men fear it, as if they well knew that it is the greatest of evils. And how is not this the most reprehensible ignorance, to think that one knows what one does not know?” – Socrates

()

“…a man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying he ought only to consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong acting the part of a good man or of a bad.” – Socrates

(Apology By Plato Translated Into English With Introduction By Benjamin Jowett; p.33)

Another English translation:

“…a man, who is even of the least value, ought to take into the account the risk of life or death, and ought not to consider that alone when he performs any action, whether he is acting justly or unjustly, and the part of a good man or bad man.” – Socrates

(The Apology Of Socrates As Written By His Friend And Pupil, Plato, Translated Into English By Henry Cary, Alwilshop, Ridgewood, New Jersey, 1901; p.42-3)

“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.” – Socrates

()

“Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.” – Socrates

(Plutarch’s Morals By Plutarch, Translated From The Greek By Several Hands, Corrected And Revised By William Watson Goodwin, With Introduction By Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume II, Little, Brown And Company, 1871, How A Young Man Ought To Hear Poems By Simon Ford, D.D, P. 58)

(Another link to this quote is found here.)

“There are two principles of action in man, the desire of pleasure and the desire of excellence. Of these the first is innate, the second acquired;the second a rational, the first an unreasoning principle.” – Socrates

()

Another English translation:

“…in every one of us there are two ruling and directing principles, whose guidance we follow wherever they may lead, the one being an innate desire of pleasure; the other, an acquired judgment which aspires after excellence.” – Socrates

(The Phaedrus, Lysis and Protagoras Of Plato, A New And Literal Translation Mainly From The Text Of Bekker By J. Wright, B.A., John W. Parker, 1848; p.19)

“…all mere opinions are bad, and the best of them blind? You would not deny that those who have any true notion without intelligence are only like blind men who feel their way along the road?” – Socrates

(The Republic Of Plato Translated Into English With Introduction, Analysis Marginal Analysis, And Index By Benjamin Jowett, Clarendon Press, 1888, Book VI; p.206-7)

“Happiness dose not consist in luxury and magnifience; on the contrary, he who stands in need of the fewest things comes nearest to the divine nature.” – Socrates

(Xenophon’s Memorabilia Of Socraties With English Notes, Critical And Explanatory The Prolegomena Of Kirchner, Wigger’s Life Of Socrates, Etc., By Charles Anthon, Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1861, BookI, Ch. VI; p.28)

Second English translation:

“…to need nothing is divine (theios), that to need as little as possible is nearest to the divine, and that what is divine is best, and what is nearest to the divine is nearest to what is best.” – Socrates

(Xenophon Memorabilia Translated and Annotated By Amy L. Bonnette, With An Itroduction By Christopher Bruell, Cornell University Press, 1994, Book I, Ch. 6; p.29)

Third English translation:

“…my belief is that to have no wants is divine; to have as few as possible comes next to the divine; and as that which is divine is supreme, so that which approaches nearest to its nature is nearest to the supreme.” – Socrates

(Memorabilia By Xenophon, Translated Into English By Edgar Cardew Marchant, Edited By Otis Johnson Todd, Harvard University Press ; Heinemann, 1923, Book I, Ch.6)

(This quote is also found in: )

“…the man who knows himself knows what is advantageous to himself; he discerns the limits of his powers, and by doing what he knows, he provides himself with what he needs and so does well; or, conversely, by holding aloof from what he knows not, he avoids mistakes and thereby mishaps.” – Socrates

(The Memorabilia: Recollections Of Socrates By Xenophon, Translated By H. G. Dakyns, The Floatin Press, 2013, Book IV, Ch. II; p.181)

(This quote is also found in: )

(Another link is found here.)

Another English translation:

“For those who know themselves know what suits them and distinguish between what they are capable of and what they are not; and by doing what they understand how to do, they procure what they need and do well, while by refraining from what they don’t understand, they remain free from error and escape doing badly.” – Socrates

(Xenophone Memorabilia Translated And Annotated By Amy L. Bonnette, With An Introduction By Christopher Bruell, Cornell University Press, 1994, Book IV, Ch. II; p.120)

(Another link is found here.)

“…not life, but a good life is to be chiefly valued?” – Socrates

(The Dialogues Of Plato Translated Into English With Analyses And Introductions By B. Jowett, M.A., In Five Volunes, Vol. II, Oxford University Press, 1892, Crito; p.149)

(This quote is also found in: Dialogues Of Plato, Translated From The Greek By Benjamin Jowett, Supplementary Materials Written By Cory Reed, Edited By Cynthia Brantley Johnson, Simon and Schuster, 2013, Crito; p.83)

“…they who provide much wealth for their children, but neglected to improve them by virtue, do like those that feed their horses high, and never train them to the manage” – Socrates

(The Whole Works Of Xenophon Translated By Ashley Cooper, Spelman, Smith, Fielding And Others, Jones & Co., 1832, The Epistles Of Xenophon Translated By Thomas Stanley, Esq., Epistle II, To Crito; p.731)

(This quote is also found here.)

“…a thing is not seen because it is visible, but conversely, visible because it is seen.” – Socrates

()

(This quote is also found in: The Republic And Other Works By Plato, Translated By B. Jowett, Anchor Books, 1973, Euthyphro; p.436)

“…that any state of action or passion implies previous action or passion. It does not become because it is becoming, but it is in a state of becoming because it becomes; neither does it suffer because it is in a state of suffering, but it is in a state of suffering because it suffers.” – Socrates

(The Dialogues Of Plato Translated Into English With Analyses And Introductions By B. Jowett, M.A., In Five Volumes, Vol.II, Oxford University Press, 1892, Euthyphro; p.85)

(This quote is also found in: The Dialogues Of Plato, Translated Into English With Analyses And Introductions By B. Jowett, M.A., In Five Volumes, Volume 1, Clarendon Press, 1875, Euthyphro; p.325)

“…sacrificing is giving to the gods, and prayer is asking of the gods? ….Upon this view, then piety is a science of asking and giving?” – Socrates

(The Dialogues Of Plato Translated Into English With Analyses And Introductions By B. Jowett, M.A., In Five Volumes, Vol.II, Oxford University Press, 1892, Euthyphro; p.91)

(This quote is also found in: The Trial And Death Of Socrates: Four Dialogues By Plato, Dover Publications, Inc., 1992, Euthyphro; p.15)

“…piety, …is an art which gods and men have of doing business with one another?” – Socrates

(The Dialogues Of Plato Translated Into English With Analyses And Introductions By B. Jowett, M.A., In Five Volumes, Vol.II, Oxford University Press, 1892, Euthyphro; p.91)

(This quote is also found in: The Republic And Other Works By Plato, Translated By B. Jowett, Anchor Books, 1973, Euthyphro; p.442)

“…a good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.” – Socrates

(The Dialogues Of Plato Translated Into English With Analyses And Introductions By B. Jowett, M.A., In Five Volumes, Vol.I, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1875, Laches; p.85)

(This quote is also found here.)