Socrates

I pray Thee, O God, that I may be beautiful within.

Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.

We are in fact convinced that if we are ever to have pure knowledge of anything, we must get rid of the body and contemplate things by themselves with the soul by itself. It seems, to judge from the argument, that the wisdom which we desire and upon which we profess to have set our hearts will be attainable only when we are dead and not in our lifetime.

Happiness is unrepentant pleasure.

An honest man is always a child.

I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live.

The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high road that leads him to England.

A man ought to read just as inclination leads him, for what he reads as a task will do him little good.

Get a black suit and just freeload, problem it’s too God damned late now even to be any of the things I never wanted to be.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.

By all means let’s be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.

This is the true joy in life: Being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good;be good for something.All fables, indeed, have their morals; but the innocent enjoy the story. Let nothing come between you and the light. Respect men and brothers only. When you travel to the Celestial City, carry no letter of introduction. When you knock, ask to see God,

You don’t stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing.

I don’t like to commit myself about heaven and hell – you see, I have friends in both places.

Work is always an antidote to depression.

The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.

The more I see the less I know for sure.

A hen is only a egg’s way of making another egg.

We should come home from adventures and perils and discoveries with new experiences and character.

There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms.