Socrates

Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us.

The comic and the tragic lie inseparably close, like light and shadow.

How many are the things I can do without!

I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.

Whom do I call educated? First, those who manage well the circumstances they encounter day by day. Next, those who are decent and honorable in their intercourse with all men, bearing easily and good naturedly what is offensive in others and being as agreeable and reasonable to their associates as is humanly possible to be… those who hold their pleasures always under control and are not ultimately overcome by their misfortunes… those who are not spoiled by their successes, who do not desert their true selves but hold their ground steadfastly as wise and sober — minded men.

An honest man is always a child.

If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.

It’s no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.

Man has always sacrificed truth to his vanity, comfort and advantage. He lives by makebelieve.

The lawyer’s truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency.

It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tost upon the sea: a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle and the adventures thereof below: but no pleasure is comparable to standing upon the vantage ground of truth… and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below.

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.

To tell the truth is very difficult, and young people are rarely capable of it.

I have such a high regard for the truth that I use it sparingly.

Truth is mighty and will prevail. There is nothing wrong with this, except that it ain’t so.

It is a puzzling thing. The truth knocks on the door and you say, ‘Go away, I’m looking for the truth.’ and so it goes away. Puzzling.

Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it.

If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.

Most writers regard the truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are economical in its use.

Why shouldn’t truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.

When in doubt tell the truth.