Socrates

Every line we've sourced

1. An unexamined life isn't worth living.

   "the unexamined life is not worth living"

   Plato, Apology 38a, Benjamin Jowett, 1892

2. He thinks he knows. I know I don't. Slight edge: me.

   "he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know. In this latter particular, then, I seem to have slightly the advantage of him"

   Plato, Apology 21d, Benjamin Jowett, 1892

3. No harm can touch a good person, in life or after.

   "no evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death"

   Plato, Apology 41d, Benjamin Jowett, 1892

4. Be the gadfly.

   "he is the gadfly who stirs the generous steed into motion"

   Plato, Apology 30e, Benjamin Jowett, 1892

5. Philosophy starts with wonder.

   "wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder"

   Plato, Theaetetus 155d, Benjamin Jowett, 1892

6. I'd rather take the wrong than do it.

   "if I must choose between them, I would rather suffer than do"

   Plato, Gorgias 469c, Benjamin Jowett, 1892

7. Beautiful inside, and let the outside match.

   "give me beauty in the inward soul; and may the outward and inward man be at one"

   Plato, Phaedrus 279b, Benjamin Jowett, 1892

8. Count the wise as the wealthy.

   "May I reckon the wise to be the wealthy"

   Plato, Phaedrus 279c, Benjamin Jowett, 1892

9. They can kill me. They can't harm me.

   "Anytus and Melitus are able indeed to kill me, but they cannot harm me"

   Plato, Apology 30c (via Epictetus, Enchiridion 53), Benjamin Jowett, 1892

10. So many things I don't need.

    "πόσων ἐγὼ χρείαν οὐκ ἔχω."

    Diogenes Laertius 2.25, our translation from the Greek

11. If a donkey kicked me, would I sue it?

    "εἰ δέ με ὄνος ἐλάκτισε, δίκην ἂν αὐτῷ ἐλάγχα"

    Diogenes Laertius 2.21, our translation from the Greek

12. Need the least, and you're closest to the gods.

    "καὶ ἐλαχίστων δεόμενος ἔγγιστα εἶναι θεῶν."

    Diogenes Laertius 2.27, our translation from the Greek

13. One good: knowledge. One evil: ignorance.

    "ἓν μόνον ἀγαθὸν εἶναι, τὴν ἐπιστήμην, καὶ ἓν μόνον κακόν, τὴν ἀμαθίαν"

    Diogenes Laertius 2.31, our translation from the Greek

14. Marry or don't. Either way, you'll regret it.

    "ἐρωτηθεὶς πότερον γῆμαι ἢ μή, ἔφη, ὃ ἂν αὐτῶν ποιήσῃς, μεταγνώσῃ."

    Diogenes Laertius 2.33, our translation from the Greek

15. Others live to eat. I eat to live.

    "ἔλεγέ τε τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους ζῆν ἵνʼ ἐσθίοιεν· αὐτὸς δὲ ἐσθίειν ἵνα ζῴη."

    Diogenes Laertius 2.34, our translation from the Greek

16. After the thunder, rain.

    "οὐκ ἔλεγον, εἶπεν, ὅτι Ξανθίππη βροντῶσα καὶ ὕδωρ ποιήσε"

    Diogenes Laertius 2.36, our translation from the Greek