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
The hour of departure has arrived and we go our ways; I to die, and you to live. Which is better? Only God knows.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the inevitability of death and life, suggesting that the value of both is uncertain.
Socrates, in this poignant statement, contemplates the difference between life and death during moments of parting. By recognizing that one person is destined to live while the other faces death, he raises profound questions about the nature of existence and the ultimate destiny that lies beyond human understanding. The ambiguity of which state is preferable—living or dying—emphasizes the limits of human knowledge and the divine insight possessed by God.
Themes
DeathLifePhilosophyExistenceGod
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared in a discussion about mortality and the meaning of life.
More from Socrates
All quotes →The 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.
SocratesRead
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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