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Man is a prisoner who has no right to open the door of his prison and run away…a man… — Socrates

Philosophical dialogue · Dialogue · Philosophical literature

Man is a prisoner who has no right to open the door of his prison and run away…a man should wait, and not take his own life until God summons him.

In the original Greek

ὁ μὲν οὖν ἐν ἀπορρήτοις λεγόμενος περὶ αὐτῶν λόγος, ὡς ἔν τινι φρουρᾷ ἐσμεν οἱ ἄνθρωποι καὶ οὐ δεῖ δὴ ἑαυτὸν ἐκ ταύτης λύειν οὐδ᾽ ἀποδιδράσκειν.

Socrates
Quoted in Phaedo, by Plato · 360 BC
★ 2.3
Provenance
Current citation
Socrates. Quoted in "Phaedo." Plato: Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo, written by Plato, translated by G. M. A. Grube and John M. Cooper. Hackett Publishing, 2002.
Original citation
Socrates. Quoted in Φαίδων [Phaedo], written by Plato. c. 360 BC.

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