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.
The unexamined life is not worth living.
No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.
He is a man of courage who does not run away, but remains at his post and fights against the enemy.
All wars are fought for the acquisition of wealth.
Not I, but the city teaches.
A good man cannot be harmed either in life or in death.
No man undertakes a trade he has not learned, even the meanest; yet everyone thinks himself sufficiently qualified for the hardest of all trades, that of government.
Wars and revolutions and battles are due simply and solely to the body and its desires. All wars are undertaken for the acquisition of wealth; and the reason why we have to acquire wealth is the body, because we are slaves in its service.
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.
The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death.
One thing I know, that I know nothing. This is the source of my wisdom.
Anybody can be a hellene, by his heart, his mind, his spirit...
I shall never fear or avoid things of which I do not know...
I have not sought during my life to amass wealth and to adorn my body, but I have sought to adorn my soul with the jewels of wisdom, patience, and above all with a love of liberty.
What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?
Men of Athens, I honor and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you, and while I have life and strength I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of philosophy.
Regard your good name as the richest jewel yoou can possibly be possessed of.
To be uncertain is to be uncomfortable, but to be certain is to be ridiculous.
I am confident that there truly is such a thing as living again, that the living spring from the dead, and that the souls of the dead are in existence.