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About this quote

What does it mean?
Socrates accepts his impending death while contrasting it with the survival of his friends, acknowledging uncertainty about the afterlife.
In plain terms
I am dying and you are living; only God knows which fate is better.
What can you take from it?
Accept the uncertainty of life and death with calm resolve.

Where it applies

  • facing death
  • parting ways
  • reflecting on fate

Putting it to work

  • preparing for end of life
  • comforting grieving friends

Questions to consider

  • What gives comfort when the outcome is unknown?

Another view

It assumes a divine perspective exists that humans cannot access.

More from Plato

  1. No evil can happen to a good man, neither in life nor after death.

    Permalink to quote #12
  2. 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.

    Permalink to quote #14
  3. 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. ...No…

    Permalink to quote #11

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