Philosophers from Socrates to Bernard Williams
Wisdom Pearls from the Wisest Souls
Socrates: "I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world."
Emphasizes: Self-reflection as a cornerstone of ethical living, urging individuals to critically assess their values and actions.
Socrates: "The unexamined life is not worth living."
Emphasizes: Universal ethical responsibility, transcending local allegiances for a broader moral perspective.
Socrates: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
Emphasizes: Virtue as a habitual practice, essential for personal and societal ethical consistency.
Socrates: "No man knowingly does evil."
Emphasizes: Ignorance as the root of unethical behaviour, suggesting knowledge fosters moral action.
Socrates: "It is better to suffer injustice than to commit it."
Emphasizes: The moral priority of integrity over personal gain, even in the face of harm.
Plato: "We are twice armed if we fight with faith."
Emphasizes: The role of conviction in ethical action, strengthening resolve in moral challenges.
Plato: "Justice in the life and conduct of the state is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens."
Emphasizes: The interdependence of individual virtue and societal justice.
Plato: "The measure of a man is what he does with power."
Emphasizes: Ethical use of authority, critical for just leadership in institutions.
Plato: "Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil."
Emphasizes: Knowledge as a prerequisite for ethical behaviour, combating moral failures.
Plato: "The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."
Emphasizes: Civic engagement as an ethical duty to prevent corrupt governance.
Plato: "The soul takes nothing with her to the next world but her education and her culture."
Emphasizes: Ethical education as a lasting value for individual moral development.
Plato: "A state arises, as I conceive, out of the needs of mankind; no one is self-sufficing."
Emphasizes: The ethical basis of society as mutual dependence and cooperation.
Plato: "The greatest penalty of evildoing is to grow into the likeness of bad men."
Emphasizes: The personal moral cost of unethical actions, shaping one’s character negatively.
Plato: "The greatest penalty of evildoing is to grow into the likeness of bad men."
Emphasizes: The personal moral cost of unethical actions, shaping one’s character negatively.