Socrates

Our collection of Socrates quotes offers timeless wisdom and perspective on a wide range of topics, including morality, education, politics, and more. Use our quotes to gain inspiration and guidance on your own personal growth and to deepen your understanding of the world around you. Start your journey of exploration and discovery with our Socrates quotes and words of wisdom today!

Where these lines come from

Partly true “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” A later compression of Plato, Apology 21d. Jowett’s translation: “he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know.” Socrates’ claim is that, unlike the man he is comparing himself with, he does not think he knows what he does not know. Socrates wrote nothing on philosophy himself, so every line credited to him comes through Plato, Xenophon or later writers. Jowett translation · More Socrates, Plato and Aristotle quotes checked

Each line was checked against the original text, or a named translation of it, in September 2026. How we check, and what we will not quote, is set out in our editorial standards.