20 Quotes from Socrates That Will Make You A Better Person

20 lessons on how to be a better human.

Socrates is considered to be the first moral philosopher. Although he made no writings, his student Plato, kept many of his sayings written. Now, we are lucky to read them, drain knowledge, and wisdom.

I’m a strong believer that the mind should always be active. Wonder.

Back then, I wasn’t trying to translate things that were happening in my life. I wasn’t trying to find meaning in simpler things. But the simpler things hide the biggest truths.

Our parents teach us the way they believe is right. But when you are looking at different perspectives, different beliefs, and different cultures, you suddenly have a different angle in front of you.

What if instead of just letting that angle go by, you started looking for the truth in it? What if instead of being narrow-minded, you would be keen to change?

It’s never too late to look out for the wrong in you. No one is right. I’m not even half right. But knowing where you stand is the half-truth.

Here are 20 quotes of Socrates that can make you a better person, today.

I highlighted my favorite ones, as I now live by them.

1. “Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.”
2. “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
3. “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.”
4. “To find yourself, think for yourself.”
5. “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”
6. “He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.”
7. “If you don’t get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don’t want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can’t hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is a law and no amount of pretending will alter that reality.”
8. “The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.”
9. “Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.”
10. “Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.”
11. “The easiest and noblest way is not to be crushing others but to be improving yourselves.”
12. “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.”
13. “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
14. “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
15. “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think”
16. “There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.”
17. “Be slow to fall into friendship, but when you are in, continue firm and constant.”
18. “Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.”
19. “When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.”
20. “Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.”

Getting older means getting more attached to your version of the truth. Day by day it gets harder to accept new truths. But by breaking old truths, truths that you have in your “motherboard”, you’ll train to be more open to newer versions of truths. Life is an evolving process, so don’t postpone change. Embrace it.

Thanks for giving this a read. Be sure to keep your eyes open and try to evolve. For more philosophical thoughts, make sure to follow me.