A system of morality that is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception that has nothing sound in it and nothing true.
SocratesRead
Beauty is a short-lived tyranny.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Beauty can be fleeting, and its dominance can be oppressive.
Socrates suggests that beauty, while often celebrated, can also be a form of tyranny due to its ephemeral nature. This quote invites reflection on the fleeting nature of physical beauty and its potential to dominate thoughts and social interactions, implying that reliance on beauty can lead to superficiality and oppression, both of oneself and others.
Themes
BeautyTyrannyEphemeralSuperficialityPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about modern standards of beauty and their impact on society.
More from Socrates
All quotes βThe poets are only the interpreters of the gods.
SocratesRead
I am wiser than this man, for neither of us appears to know anything great and good; but he fancies he knows something, although he knows nothing; whereas I, as I do not know anything, so I do not fancy I do. In this trifling particular, then, I appear to be wiser than he, because I do not fancy I know what I do not know.
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The unexamined life is not worth living.
SocratesRead
When I was young, I believed that life might unfold in an orderly way, according to my hopes and expectations. But now I understand that the Way winds like a river, always changing, ever onward.. My journeys revealed that the Way itself creates the warrior; that every path leads to peace, every choice to wisdom. And that life has always been, and will always be, arising in Mystery.
SocratesRead
Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued." "It is not living that matters, but living rightly. The unexamined life is not worth living.
SocratesRead
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