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
If what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of speaking only what is true, good, and useful.
Socrates suggests that communication should be meaningful, focusing on truthfulness, morality, and utility. In a world filled with noise and misinformation, the quote prompts individuals to reflect on the value and impact of their words, advocating for a dialogue that enriches rather than depletes understanding and connection.
Themes
TruthGoodnessUsefulnessCommunicationWisdom
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate, one might use this quote to encourage honesty and substance in arguments.
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.
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
Similar quotes
Men become wise just as they become rich, more by what they save than by what they receive.
Wilbur WrightRead
I like a person who knows his own mind and sticks to it; who sees at once what, in given circumstances, is to be done, and does it.
William HazlittRead
What is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas. If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish useful ideas from the worthless ones.
Carl SaganRead
Our days are like identical suitcases. Even though they are all the same size, some people are able to pack more into them then others. The reason? They know what to pack.
John C. MaxwellRead
If you evade suffering you also evade the chance of joy. Pleasure you may get, or pleasures, but you will not be fulfilled. You will not know what it is to come home.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain common work as it comes certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things of life.
Robert Louis StevensonRead