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
When you want success as badly as you want the air, then you will get it. There is no other secret of success.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Success requires an intense desire and commitment to achieve it, similar to the need for air.
This quote emphasizes that success is not merely about wishing for it but involves a profound level of passion and determination. Just as air is essential for survival, a deep longing for success can drive individuals to overcome obstacles and achieve their goals, suggesting that this kind of desire is the key to unlocking one's potential and achieving greatness.
Themes
SuccessDesireDeterminationAchievementGoals
In practice
Example use cases
Sharing this quote at a motivational seminar to inspire attendees to pursue their goals fervently.
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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