"A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true."

"Beloved Pan and all other gods, who haunt this place, give me beauty in the inward soul, and may the outward and the inner man be at one."

"The answer I gave myself and the oracle was that it was to my advantage to be as I am."

"For the poet is a light and winged and holy thing, and there is no invention in him until he has been inspired and is out of his senses, and the mind is no longer in him: when he has not attained to this state, he is powerless and is unable to utter his oracles."

"I neither know nor think that I know"

"Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel."

"Esteemed friend, citizen of Athens, the greatest city in the world, so outstanding in both intelligence and power, aren't you ashamed to care so much to make all the money you can, and to advance your reputation and prestige--while for truth and wisdom and the improvement of your soul you have no care or worry?"

"In all of us, even in good men, there is a lawless wild-beast nature, which peers out in sleep."

"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..."

"The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms."

"Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for."

"Is it true; is it kind, or is it necessary?"

"I examined the poets, and I look on them as people whose talent overawes both themselves and others, people who present themselves as wise men and are taken as such, when they are nothing of the sort. From poets, I moved to artists. No one was more ignorant about the arts than I; no one was more convinced that artists possessed really beautiful secrets. However, I noticed that their condition was no better than that of the poets and that both of them have the same misconceptions. Because the most skillful among them excel in their specialty, they look upon themselves as the wisest of men. In my eyes, this presumption completely tarnished their knowledge. As a result, putting myself in the place of the oracle and asking myself what I would prefer to be — what I was or what they were, to know what they have learned or to know that I know nothing — I replied to myself and to the god: I wish to remain who I am."

"My advice to you is getting married: if you find a good wife you'll be happy; if not, you'll become a philosopher."

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new."

"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..."

"Nobody is qualified to become a statesman who is entirely ignorant of the problem of wheat."

"Human nature will not easily find a better helper than Eros."

"The misuse of language induces evil in the soul"

"I neither know nor think that I know"