"[Why is suicide held not to be right?] There is a doctrine uttered in secret that a man is a prisoner who has no right to open the door to his prison and run away; this is a great mystery which I do not understand. Yet I too, believe that the gods are our guardians, and that we are a possession of theirs. ...And if one of your possessions, an ox or an ass, for example took the liberty of putting himself out of the way when you had given no intimation of your wish that he should die, would you not be angry with him, and would you not punish him if you could? ...Then there may be reason in saying that a man should wait, and not take his own life until God summons him, as he is now summoning me."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Socrates
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Socrates
169 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Socrates →
Related Quotes
"To give either to any public matter of interest or to any concern of my own, but I am in utter poverty by reason of m…"
"Where there is reverence there is fear, but there is not reverence everywhere that there is fear, because fear presum…"
"Wind puffs up empty bladders; opinion, fools."
"Hungern är bästa kryddan."
"Oh dear Pan and all the other gods of this place, grant that I may be beautiful inside. Let all my external possessio…"
"One should never do wrong in return, nor mistreat any man, no matter how one has been mistreated by him."
"I only wish that wisdom were the kind of thing that flowed ... from the vessel that was full to the one that was empty."
"Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder."
"In every one of us there are two ruling and directing principles, whose guidance we follow wherever they may lead; th…"
"μηδὲν πρὸ τοῦ δικαίου"