"Children nowadays are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers."

"All I know is that I know nothing."

"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."

"We cannot live better than in seeking to become better."

"If all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be content to take their own and depart."

"Be nicer than necessary to everyone you meet. Everyone is fighting some kind of battle."

"How many things can I do without?"

"As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which course he will, he will be sure to repent."

"Every action has its pleasures and its price."

"Children nowadays are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers."

"He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god."

"Understanding a question is half an answer."

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

"The really important thing is not to live, but to live well. And to live well meant, along with more enjoyable things in life, to live according to your principles."

"My friend...care for your psyche...know thyself, for once we know ourselves, we may learn how to care for ourselves"

"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?"

"The hottest love has the coldest end."

"I will not yield to any man contrary to what is right, for fear of death, even if I should die at once for not yielding."

"And therefore if the head and the body are to be well, you must begin by curing the soul; that is the first and essential thing. And the care of the soul, my dear youth, has to be effected by the use of certain charms, and these charms are fair words; and by them temperance is implanted in the soul, and where temperance comes and stays, there health is speedily imparted, not only to the head, but to the whole body."

"All men's souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine."