A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true.

Where there is reverence there is fear, but there is not reverence everywhere that there is fear, because fear presumably has a wider extension than reverence.

One who is injured ought not to return the injury, for on no account can it be right to do an injustice; and it is not right to return an injury, or to do evil to any man, however much we have suffered from him.

I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.

No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death. He and his are not neglected by the gods.

True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.

The unexamined life is not worth living.

Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued.

Beware the barrenness of a busy life.

Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us.

The end of life is to be like God, and the soul following God will be like Him.

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

The unexamined life is not worth living.

I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think