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
Admitting one's ignorance is the first step in acquiring knowledge.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Acknowledging what you don't know is essential for learning and growth.
This quote by Socrates emphasizes the importance of recognizing one's own limitations in knowledge. Only by admitting ignorance can a person begin to seek truth and understanding, thereby paving the way to greater wisdom and learning.
Themes
IgnoranceKnowledgeLearningAwarenessWisdom
In practice
Example use cases
In a classroom setting, a teacher might use this quote to encourage students to ask questions and seek help.
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
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When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.
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That which we acquire with the most difficulty we retain the longest; as those who have earned a fortune are usually more careful of it than those who have inherited one.
Charles Caleb ColtonRead
Whatever your work and whatever its worth, No matter how strong or clever, Some one will sneer if you pause to hear, And scoff at your best endeavor. For the target art has a broad expanse, And wherever you chance to hit it, Though close be your aim to the bull's-eye fame, There are those who will never admit it.
Ella Wheeler WilcoxRead
Temptations, of course, cannot be avoided, but because we cannot prevent the birds from flying over our heads, there is no need that we should let them nest in our hair.
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Resolve to be thyself: and know that he who finds himself, loses his misery.
Matthew ArnoldRead
You're never wasting your time as long as you learn from every single thing you do, whether you feel like those attempts are successful or not.
Tomi AdeyemiRead