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Who really said it

The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be

Not a verbatim quote — a modern paraphrase of Xenophon’s Socrates Socrates c. 470–399 BC · Athenian philosopher, as reported by Xenophon
Disputed Rights unconfirmed

The thought is genuinely Socratic, but no one is recorded saying these exact words. The line descends from Xenophon’s Memorabilia (Book II, ch. 6), where Socrates tells Critobulus that “the shortest and surest way to live with honour in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be” — Edward Bysshe’s 1712 English rendering. Quote sites trimmed “shortest and surest” to “greatest” and swapped “be in reality what we would appear to be” for the snappier “be what we pretend to be,” a phrasing that appears in no actual translation.

Last verified 10 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be” The shortest and surest way to live with honour in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be. —Socrates, as reported in Xenophon's Memorabilia (Book II, ch. 6), trans. Edward Bysshe, 1712

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Socrates. Use the credit shown above instead.

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In context

Evoking the world of Socrates — Athenian philosopher, as portrayed by Xenophon & Plato. Theme: "The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

Where the line actually comes from

Work
Xenophon, Memorabilia (“The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates”)
Passage
Book II, ch. 6 — Socrates to Critobulus (Memorabilia II.6.39)
Translation
Edward Bysshe, 1712 (English)
Speaker
Socrates, as reported by Xenophon

… 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 you observe, you will find that all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice and experience of them.

Bysshe’s 1712 translation of Xenophon. The popular version replaces “shortest and surest” with “greatest” and “be in reality what we would appear to be” with “be what we pretend to be” — neither is in the original.

Xenophon, The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates (Bysshe trans.)

The paper trail

  • Edward Bysshe’s 1712 translation of Xenophon carries the genuine line: Socrates tells Critobulus “the shortest and surest way to live with honour in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be” (Project Gutenberg).
  • Quote sites recast it as “the greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be” and pin it on Socrates — a wording in no real translation (Goodreads).
  • The ‘pretend to be’ phrasing echoes a genuinely different author: Kurt Vonnegut’s “We are what we pretend to be…” from Mother Night (Wikiquote).
  • Cicero preserves the same Socratic maxim — “strive to be what you wish to be thought to be” — in De Officiis II.43 (Perseus).

The genuine line comes from Xenophon’s ancient Greek Memorabilia (long in the public domain) in Edward Bysshe’s 1712 English translation, itself well out of copyright. The specific popular wording — “be what we pretend to be” — is an anonymous modern paraphrase that appears in no identifiable published source, so no clean rights status attaches to it.

Fact-check

How this quote goes wrong

The attribution to Socrates is roughly fair — the thought is his, via Xenophon — but the exact words are not. Two things get muddled here:

No source says ‘pretend to be’ Misquotation

No translation of Xenophon — or any classical text — renders the line as “be what we pretend to be.” The genuine 1712 wording is “be in reality what we would appear to be” (Project Gutenberg).

Kurt Vonnegut Bleed-over

Vonnegut really did write “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be” in Mother Night — a separate, correctly-his quote whose phrasing likely contaminated the Socrates paraphrase (Wikiquote).

The real Socratic line is Xenophon’s: “the shortest and surest way to live with honour in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be” (Memorabilia II.6, Bysshe trans.).

Context

The idea behind the line

Xenophon’s Socrates is coaching young Critobulus on how to win real friends and a real reputation. His point is blunt: don’t chase the appearance of virtue, because a false reputation collapses the instant you’re asked to deliver on it. The safest road to honour is simply to become good at the thing you want to be admired for.

The modern ‘pretend to be’ rewrite keeps the shape of that idea but nudges its spirit — from ‘be genuinely what you appear’ toward ‘live up to your pretense.’ It’s a memorable line, but it is Xenophon’s Socrates filtered through an 18th-century translator and then smoothed by the internet, not anything Socrates is recorded as saying word-for-word.

“Be in reality what we would appear to be” — not “pretend to be.”

Explore

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More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Character Truth

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Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates (Bysshe trans.)gutenberg.org

The genuine Xenophon passage in Edward Bysshe’s 1712 English translation.
Kurt Vonnegut — Mother Nighten.wikiquote.org

The genuinely-Vonnegut ‘pretend to be’ line often conflated with this one.
Cicero, De Officiis II.43perseus.tufts.edu

A parallel classical record of the same Socratic maxim.
Xenophonen.wikiquote.org

Sourced Xenophon quotations — note this paraphrase is absent.
The quote as it circulatesgoodreads.com

The popular misworded attribution to Socrates in the wild.

The true source

About Socrates

Socrates

c. 470–399 BC · Athenian philosopher, as portrayed by Xenophon & Plato

Socrates (c. 470–399 BC) was an Athenian philosopher who wrote nothing himself; everything we have of him comes through his students, chiefly Xenophon and Plato. Xenophon’s Memorabilia preserves his plain, practical ethics — including the maxim that the surest road to honour is not to seem good but actually to become what you wish to appear.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source

Xenophon. The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates. Translated by Edward Bysshe. London, 1712. Book II, ch. 6 (Memorabilia II.6.39): “the shortest and surest way to live with honour in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be.”

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Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be’?” Last verified 10 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/the-greatest-way-to-live-with-honor-in-this-world-is-to-be

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