Socrates

Well I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of; but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance. At any rate it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know.

The poets are only the interpreters of the Gods.

The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.

I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.

Nothing is to be preferred before justice.

What a lot of things there are a man can do without.

Michelle’s like Beyoncé in that song ‘Let me upgrade ya!’ She upgraded me.

If you were going to list the 100 most popular things that I have done as president. Being married to Michelle Obama is number one.

In marriage do thou be wise: prefer the person before money, virtue before beauty, the mind before the body; then thou hast a wife, a friend, a companion, a second self.

The greatest day of my life was the day I married Mrs. Ford.

What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are but how you deal with incompatibility.

[on Michelle] Like a lot of political spouses, the role was thrust upon her. But I always knew she’d be incredible at it, and put her own unique stamp on the job. That’s because who you see is who she is-the brilliant, funny, generous woman who, for whatever reason, agreed to marry me. I think people gravitate to her because they see themselves in her-a dedicated mom, a good friend, and someone who’s not afraid to poke a little fun at herself from time to time.

By taking a second wife he pays the highest compliment to the first, by showing that she made him so happy as a married man, that he wishes to be so a second time.

What Michelle has done is to remind me every day of the virtues of order.

I am a black American male from Chicago, who had my rehearsal dinner at Versailles and then got married in Florence with a view of the entire city.

On Oct. 3, 1992, Barack and I were married in Chicago – and every day since, I’ve grown prouder and more in love with him.

Call no man unhappy until he is married.

There is no subject on which more dangerous nonsense is talked and thought than marriage.

Marriage is distinctly and repeatedly excluded from heaven. Is this because it is thought likely to mar the general felicity?

It is not from reason and prudence that people marry, but from inclination.

Marriage is an alliance entered into by a man who can’t sleep with the window shut, and a woman who can’t sleep with the window open.