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
Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that we should pray for general blessings, trusting that a higher power knows what is best for us.
Socrates emphasizes the importance of humility in our desires and prayers, advocating that instead of asking for specific things, we should seek general blessings. He asserts that a divine presence—God—understands our true needs better than we do ourselves, reminding us to trust in that greater wisdom rather than fixating on our limited perspectives.
Themes
PrayerBlessingsFaithTrustWisdom
In practice
Example use cases
In a spiritual gathering, to inspire participants to expand their prayers beyond personal desires.
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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True, I talk of dreams, Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantasy.
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Alive without breath, As cold as death; Never thirsty, ever drinking, All in mail never clinking.
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It's the end game that people dread and that's what I'm scared of
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If you say that you reject violence when it exceeds the limits imposed by the needs of defense, they accuse you of pacifism, without understanding that violence is the whole essence of authoritarianism, just as the repudiation of violence is the whole essence of anarchism.
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