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
By far the greatest and most admirable form of wisdom is that needed to plan and beautify cities and human communities.
Interpretation
The highest wisdom lies in the ability to design and improve our living spaces and communities.
This quote by Socrates emphasizes the importance of urban planning and community development as a sophisticated form of wisdom. It suggests that the ability to not only envision but also implement improvements in the quality and aesthetics of our environments reflects a profound understanding of human needs and social harmony.
In practice
This quote can inspire discussions at a city council meeting about community development.
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.
The poets are only the interpreters of the gods.
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.
The unexamined life is not worth living.
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.
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.
If you're on a freeway and want to know if you're being followed, what you do is enormously vary your speed. You accelerate to 100 and slow down to 30 and then accelerate again. In a city, you make a lot of turns against the stream of traffic. You go around a roundabout twice.
If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize which God could, if He chose, just hand out to anyone.
Only fools, liars, and charlatans predict earthquakes
The real tragedy of the poor is the poverty of their aspirations.
If you seek only easy problems to solve, then ultimately, there'll be nothing about you to distinguish yourself from others.
Self-awareness involves deep personal honesty. It comes from asking and answering hard questions.
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