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
It is never right to do wrong or to requite wrong with wrong, or when we suffer evil to defend ourselves by doing evil in return.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of maintaining moral integrity, even in the face of wrongdoing.
Socrates underscores the idea that one should not retaliate or respond to wrongs with further wrongs. Instead, he advocates for moral steadfastness and suggests that retaliating against evil with evil only perpetuates a cycle of injustice and can never be justified. Upholding virtue and righteousness is paramount, regardless of the circumstances one finds themselves in.
Themes
MoralityJusticeVirtueRetaliationIntegrity
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about ethics, one might quote Socrates to highlight the importance of responding to conflict with integrity rather than retaliation.
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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