Quotes from Apology

Quotations follow the G.M.A. Grube translation (Hackett Publishing, 2000) — our recommended edition.

1. 2

   I know that I know nothing.

2. 3

   I am that gadfly which God has given the state and all day long and in all places am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you.

3. 4

   Men of Athens, I honour and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you, and while I have life and strength I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of philosophy.

4. 5

   The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways—I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows.

5. 6

   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.

6. 7

   God only is wise; and by his answer he intends to show that the wisdom of men is worth little or nothing.

7. 8

   A man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong.

8. 9

   For this fear of death is indeed the pretence of wisdom, and not real wisdom, being the appearance of knowing the unknown.

9. 10

   I would rather die having spoken in my manner, than speak in your manner and live.

10. 11

    I would rather die having spoken after my manner, than speak in your manner and live.

11. 12

    No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death.

12. 13

    Virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue come money and every other good of man, public as well as private.

13. 14

    Either death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or, as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another.