Socrates

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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

Quoted in Apology, by Plato

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Plato. Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους [Apology of Socrates]. Speech of legal self-defence which Socrates spoke at his trial for impiety and corruption. 399 BC, Athens, Greece.

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Plato. "Apology." Plato: Euthyphro; Apology; Crito; Phaedo, translated by Christopher Emlyn-Jones and William Preddy. Harvard University Press, 2017.

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The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness. This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.

Socrates

Quoted in Republic, by Plato

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Socrates. Quoted in Πολιτεία [Republic], written by Plato. c. 375 BCE.

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Socrates. Quoted in Republic, written by Plato, translated by Desmond Lee. Penguin Classics, 2007.

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False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.

Socrates

Quoted in Phaedo, by Plato

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Socrates. Quoted in Φαίδων [Phaedo], written by Plato. c. 360 BC.

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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.

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The country places and the trees won't teach me anything, and the people in the city do.

Socrates

Quoted in Phaedrus, by Plato

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Socrates. Quoted in Φαῖδρος [Phaedrus], written by Plato. c. 370 BC.

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Socrates. Quoted in "Phaedrus." Plato: Lysis; Symposium; Phaedrus, written by Plato, translated by Christopher Emlyn-Jones and William Preddy. Harvard University Press, 2022.

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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

Quoted in Republic, by Plato

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Socrates. Quoted in Πολιτεία [Republic], written by Plato. c. 375 BCE.

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Socrates. Quoted in Republic, written by Plato, translated by Desmond Lee. Penguin Classics, 2007.

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Virtue does not come from money, but from virtue comes money and all other good things to man, both to the individual and to the state.

Socrates

Quoted in Apology, by Plato

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Original Citation

Plato. Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους [Apology of Socrates]. Speech of legal self-defence which Socrates spoke at his trial for impiety and corruption. 399 BC, Athens, Greece.

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Plato. "Apology." Plato: Euthyphro; Apology; Crito; Phaedo, translated by Christopher Emlyn-Jones and William Preddy. Harvard University Press, 2017.

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The partisan, when he is engaged in a dispute, cares nothing about the rights of the question, but is anxious only to convince his hearers of his own assertions.

Socrates

Quoted in Phaedo, by Plato

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Socrates. Quoted in Φαίδων [Phaedo], written by Plato. c. 360 BC.

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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.

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Will you not allow that I have as much of the spirit of prophecy in me as the swans? For they, when they perceive that they must die, having sung all their life long, do then sing more lustily than ever, rejoicing in the thought that they are going to the god they serve.

Socrates

Quoted in Phaedo, by Plato

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Socrates. Quoted in Φαίδων [Phaedo], written by Plato. c. 360 BC.

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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.

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I am not Athenian or Greek but a citizen of the world.

Socrates

Quoted in Moralia, by Plutarch

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Socrates. Quoted in "Περὶ φυγῆς [On Exile]." Written by Plutarch. Ἠθικά Ethika [Moralia]. c. 100 AD.

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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

Quoted in Apology, by Plato

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Original Citation

Plato. Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους [Apology of Socrates]. Speech of legal self-defence which Socrates spoke at his trial for impiety and corruption. 399 BC, Athens, Greece.

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Current Citation

Plato. "Apology." Plato: Euthyphro; Apology; Crito; Phaedo, translated by Christopher Emlyn-Jones and William Preddy. Harvard University Press, 2017.

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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

Quoted in Theaetetus, by Plato

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Socrates. Quoted in Θεαίτητος [Theaetetus], written by Plato. c. 369 BC.

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Socrates. Quoted in Theaetetus, written by Plato, translated by John McDowell. Oxford University Press, 2014.

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I would have you imagine, then, that there exists in the mind of man a block of wax, which is of different sizes in different men; harder, moister, and having more or less of purity in one than another, and in some of an intermediate quality... Let us say that this tablet is a gift of Memory, the mother of the Muses; and that when we wish to remember anything which we have seen, or heard, or thought in our own minds, we hold the wax to the perceptions and thoughts, and in that material receive the impression of them as from the seal of a ring; and that we remember and know what is imprinted as long as the image lasts; but when the image is effaced, or cannot be taken, then we forget and do not know.

Socrates

Quoted in Theaetetus, by Plato

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Original Citation

Socrates. Quoted in Θεαίτητος [Theaetetus], written by Plato. c. 369 BC.

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Socrates. Quoted in Theaetetus, written by Plato, translated by John McDowell. Oxford University Press, 2014.

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The soul of man is immortal and imperishable.

Socrates

Quoted in Republic, by Plato

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Socrates. Quoted in Πολιτεία [Republic], written by Plato. c. 375 BCE.

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Socrates. Quoted in Republic, written by Plato, translated by Desmond Lee. Penguin Classics, 2007.

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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

Quoted in Apology, by Plato

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Original Citation

Plato. Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους [Apology of Socrates]. Speech of legal self-defence which Socrates spoke at his trial for impiety and corruption. 399 BC, Athens, Greece.

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Current Citation

Plato. "Apology." Plato: Euthyphro; Apology; Crito; Phaedo, translated by Christopher Emlyn-Jones and William Preddy. Harvard University Press, 2017.

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When there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income.

Socrates

Quoted in Republic, by Plato

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Socrates. Quoted in Πολιτεία [Republic], written by Plato. c. 375 BCE.

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Socrates. Quoted in Republic, written by Plato, translated by Desmond Lee. Penguin Classics, 2007.

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Must not all things at the last be swallowed up in death?

Socrates

Quoted in Phaedo, by Plato

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Socrates. Quoted in Φαίδων [Phaedo], written by Plato. c. 360 BC.

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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.

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What is the prime of life? May it not be defined as a period of about twenty years in a woman's life, and thirty in a man's?

Socrates

Quoted in Republic, by Plato

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Socrates. Quoted in Πολιτεία [Republic], written by Plato. c. 375 BCE.

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Socrates. Quoted in Republic, written by Plato, translated by Desmond Lee. Penguin Classics, 2007.

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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.

Socrates

Quoted in Phaedo, by Plato

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Socrates. Quoted in Φαίδων [Phaedo], written by Plato. c. 360 BC.

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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.

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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

Quoted in Apology, by Plato

On his unwillingness to give up practicing philosophy.

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Original Citation

Plato. Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους [Apology of Socrates]. Speech of legal self-defence which Socrates spoke at his trial for impiety and corruption. 399 BC, Athens, Greece.

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Current Citation

Plato. "Apology." Plato: Euthyphro; Apology; Crito; Phaedo, translated by Christopher Emlyn-Jones and William Preddy. Harvard University Press, 2017.

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It is perfectly certain that the soul is immortal and imperishable, and our souls will actually exist in another world.

Socrates

Quoted in Phaedo, by Plato

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Socrates. Quoted in Φαίδων [Phaedo], written by Plato. c. 360 BC.

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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.

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