"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, do not fancy I …"

"Know thyself."

"Which of these two is better only God knows."

"I examined the poets, and I look on them as people whose talent overawes both themselves and others, people who present themselves as wise men and are taken as such, when they are nothing of the sort."

"I am a gadfly who God has attached to the state, and all day long and in all places am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching all of you."