Quotes · Skopia

109 quotes

Democracy passes into despotism. — Socrates · 375 BC You know as well as we do that right, as the word goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must. — Thucydides · 404 BC The city in which those who are to rule are least eager to hold office must needs be the best governed and freest from strife. — Socrates · 375 BC Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils. — Socrates · 375 BC When the tyrant has disposed for foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader. — Socrates · 375 BC Excessive dealings with tyrants are not good for the security of free states. — Demosthenes · 343 BC

Politics5 quotes

Democracy passes into despotism. — Socrates · 375 BC Democracy, which is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike. — Socrates · 375 BC The city in which those who are to rule are least eager to hold office must needs be the best governed and freest from strife. — Socrates · 375 BC Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils. — Socrates · 375 BC Excessive dealings with tyrants are not good for the security of free states. — Demosthenes · 343 BC

The afterlife5 quotes

To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. — Socrates · 399 BC Either death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or, as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another. Now if death be of such a nature, I say that to die is to gain; for eternity is then only a single night. — Socrates · 339 BC But already it is time to depart, for me to die, for you to go on living; which of us takes the better course, is not known to anyone except God. — Socrates · 399 BC Death is, you see, one or the other of two things: either to be dead is to be non-existent, as it were, and a dead person has no awareness of anything at all; or else, as we are told, the soul undergoes some sort of transformation, or exchanging of this present world for another. — Socrates · 399 BC It is perfectly certain that the soul is immortal and imperishable, and our souls will actually exist in another world. — Socrates · 347 BC

Ignorance4 quotes

I know that I do not know. — Socrates · 399 BC Behold! human beings living in an underground den... Like ourselves... They see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave. — Socrates · 375 BC To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. — Socrates · 399 BC The happiest life consists in ignorance. — Sophocles · 442 BC

Philosophy4 quotes

Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder. — Socrates · 400 BC The unexamined life is not worth living. — Socrates · 399 BC If you were prepared to let me go on those terms, I should reply to you as follows: "I have the greatest fondness and affection for you, fellow Athenians, but I will obey my god rather than you." — Socrates · 399 BC Well, my art of midwifery is in most respects like theirs; but differs, in that I attend men and not women, and I look after their souls when they are in labor, and not after their bodies: and the triumph of my art is in thoroughly examining whether the thought which the mind of the young man brings forth is a false idol or a noble and true birth. — Socrates · 369 BC

Courage3 quotes

Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous. — Pericles · 430 BC But the bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it. — Pericles · 430 BC Who has knowledge of what is to be dreaded and what is not—the man whom I call courageous? — Nicias · 380 BC

Death3 quotes

To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. — Socrates · 399 BC Either death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or, as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another. Now if death be of such a nature, I say that to die is to gain; for eternity is then only a single night. — Socrates · 339 BC Death is, you see, one or the other of two things: either to be dead is to be non-existent, as it were, and a dead person has no awareness of anything at all; or else, as we are told, the soul undergoes some sort of transformation, or exchanging of this present world for another. — Socrates · 399 BC

Democracy3 quotes

Democracy passes into despotism. — Socrates · 375 BC Democracy, which is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike. — Socrates · 375 BC Our constitution is named a democracy, because it is in the hands not of the few but of the many. But our laws secure equal justice for all in their private disputes, and our public opinion welcomes and honors talent in every branch of achievement, not for any sectional reason but on grounds of excellence alone. And as we give free play to all in our public life, so we care the same spirit into our daily relations with one another... Open and friendly in our private intercourse, in our public acts we keep strictly within the control of law. We acknowledge the restraint of authority, and to the laws, more especially to those which offer protection to the oppressed and those unwritten ordinances whose transgression brings admitted shame. — Pericles · 430 BC

Learning3 quotes

Old to grow, but ever learning. — Solon · 119 Let us now suppose that in the mind of each man there is an aviary of all sorts of birds-some flocking together apart from the rest, others in small groups, others solitary, flying anywhere and everywhere... We may suppose that the birds are kinds of knowledge, and that when we were children, the receptacle was empty; whenever a man has gotten and detained in the enclosure a kind of knowledge, he may be said to have learned or discovered the thing which is the subject of the knowledge: and this is to know. — Socrates · 369 BC The man who has never been flogged has never been taught. — Menander · 291 BC

Patriarchy3 quotes

Your great glory is not to be inferior to what God has made you, and the greatest glory of a woman is to be least talked about by men, whether they are praising you or criticizing you. — Pericles · 430 BC Silence gives the proper grace to women. — Sophocles · 440 BC Great is the glory of the woman who occasions the least talk among men, whether of praise or of blame. — Thucydides · 404 BC

The human condition3 quotes

One might perhaps say that this very thing is probable, that many things happen to men that are not probable. — Agathon Not to be born is, past all prizing, best. — Sophocles · 406 BC Of all human ills, greatest is fortune's wayward tyranny. — Sophocles · 430 BC

The soul3 quotes

The soul of man is immortal and imperishable. — Socrates · 375 BC Death is, you see, one or the other of two things: either to be dead is to be non-existent, as it were, and a dead person has no awareness of anything at all; or else, as we are told, the soul undergoes some sort of transformation, or exchanging of this present world for another. — Socrates · 399 BC It is perfectly certain that the soul is immortal and imperishable, and our souls will actually exist in another world. — Socrates · 347 BC

Tyrants3 quotes

In the early days of his power, he is full of smiles, and he salutes everyone whom he meets. — Socrates · 375 BC When the tyrant has disposed for foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader. — Socrates · 375 BC The tyrant is a child of Pride Who drinks from his great sickening cup Recklessness and vanity, Until from his high crest headlong He plummets to the dust of hope. — Sophocles · 430 BC

Wisdom3 quotes

The unexamined life is not worth living. — Socrates · 399 BC Old to grow, but ever learning. — Solon · 119 Wisdom outweighs any wealth. — Sophocles · 442 BC

Aging2 quotes

Old to grow, but ever learning. — Solon · 119 No man loves like him that's growing old. — Sophocles · 400 BC

Being born2 quotes

Not to be born is, past all prizing, best. — Sophocles · 406 BC Not to be born surpasses thought and speech. The second best is to have seen the light And then to go back quickly whence we came. — Sophocles · 406 BC

Changing the past2 quotes

For the one thing even God cannot do is change the past. — Agathon This only is denied even to God, The power to make what has been done undone. — Agathon · 350 BC

Cities2 quotes

The country places and the trees won't teach me anything, and the people in the city do. — Socrates · 370 BC For a city consists of men, and not of walls nor ships empty of men. — Nicias · 404 BC

Discreet women2 quotes

Silence gives the proper grace to women. — Sophocles · 440 BC Great is the glory of the woman who occasions the least talk among men, whether of praise or of blame. — Thucydides · 404 BC

Education2 quotes

Behold! human beings living in an underground den... Like ourselves... They see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave. — Socrates · 375 BC The object of education is to teach us to love what is beautiful. — Socrates · 375 BC

God2 quotes

For the one thing even God cannot do is change the past. — Agathon This only is denied even to God, The power to make what has been done undone. — Agathon · 350 BC

God's power2 quotes

For the one thing even God cannot do is change the past. — Agathon This only is denied even to God, The power to make what has been done undone. — Agathon · 350 BC

Happiness2 quotes

Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous. — Pericles · 430 BC The happiest life consists in ignorance. — Sophocles · 442 BC

How to live2 quotes

For our discussion is about no ordinary matter, but on the right way to conduct our lives. — Socrates · 375 BC My child, you are still young, and time as it advances [888b] will cause you to reverse many of the opinions you now hold: so wait till then before pronouncing judgment on matters of most grave importance; and of these the gravest of all—though at present you regard it as naught—is the question of holding a right view about the gods and so living well, or the opposite. — Plato · 346 BC

Ignorance is bliss2 quotes

How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be When there's no help in truth! — Sophocles · 430 BC The happiest life consists in ignorance. — Sophocles · 442 BC

Justice2 quotes

You know as well as we do that right, as the word goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must. — Thucydides · 404 BC It is never right to do wrong or to requite wrong with wrong, or when we suffer evil to defend ourselves by doing evil in return. — Socrates · 399 BC

Man and animals2 quotes

There are many wonderful things, and nothing is more wonderful than man. — Sophocles · 441 BC Of all wild creatures, the child is the most intractable. — Plato · 346 BC

Materialism2 quotes

Having the fewest wants, I am nearest to the gods. — Socrates · 240 How many things I can do without! — Socrates · 399 BC

Mystery of death2 quotes

But already it is time to depart, for me to die, for you to go on living; which of us takes the better course, is not known to anyone except God. — Socrates · 399 BC Death is, you see, one or the other of two things: either to be dead is to be non-existent, as it were, and a dead person has no awareness of anything at all; or else, as we are told, the soul undergoes some sort of transformation, or exchanging of this present world for another. — Socrates · 399 BC

Ocean and sea2 quotes

The sea! the sea! — Xenophon · 370 BC He who commands the sea has command of everything. — Themistocles · 462 BC

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