Quote #11

If my life is to be prolonged now, I know that I must live out my old age, seeing worse, hearing less, learning with more difficulty, and forgetting more and more of what I have learned. If I see myself growing worse and reproach myself for it, tell me, how could I continue to live pleasantly? Perhaps even the god in his kindness is offering to end my life not only at the right time, but also in the easiest way possible...

More from Socrates

  1. I realized that it was not by wisdom that poets write their poetry, but by a kind of nature or inspiration, such as you find in seers and p…
  2. So now, Athenian men, more than on my own behalf must I defend myself, as some may think, but on your behalf, so that you may not make a mi…
  3. I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but and chiefly…
  4. Not I, but the city, teaches.
  5. The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being. (ho de anexetastos bios ou biotos anthropoi)
  6. The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways - I to die and you to live. Which is the better, only God knows.
  7. And how is not this the most reprehensible ignorance, to think that one knows what one does not know? But I, O Athenians! in this, perhaps,…
  8. Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius; will you remember to pay the debt?

All Socrates quotes