Socrates
Traced to source
7 quotes we’ve traced to Socrates
“He knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know”
Verified“The unexamined life is not worth living”
Verified“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom”
Attributed“By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher”
Disputed“I know that I know nothing”
Disputed“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be”
Disputed“When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser”
DisputedNot actually Socrates
Often misattributed to Socrates
Famous lines widely pinned on Socrates that we’ve traced to someone else.
“Be moderate in everything, including moderation”
actually Unknown — earliest documented in Wallace Rice (1927)
“Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty”
actually Joseph Addison
“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel”
actually Plutarch
“Know thyself”
actually The Delphic maxim (Seven Sages of Greece)
“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise”
actually Kenneth John Freeman
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new”
actually Dan Millman
Did they really say it?
Thought Socrates said something else?
Type a quote you think Socrates said — we’ll tell you what we know, or point you to the best sources.