A system of morality that is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception that has nothing sound in it and nothing true.
SocratesRead
Wars and revolutions and battles are due simply and solely to the body and its desires.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Human conflicts arise from physical desires and needs.
Socrates' quote emphasizes that wars and conflicts are fundamentally driven by the basic needs and desires of the human body. It suggests that the root of violence and societal upheaval can be traced back to unfulfilled physical cravings, implying that if these desires were managed or understood better, the resulting strife might be mitigated.
Themes
WarRevolutionBodyDesiresConflict
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate on the causes of conflict, this quote could highlight the physical desires behind wars.
More from Socrates
All quotes βThe poets are only the interpreters of the gods.
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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. In this trifling particular, then, I appear to be wiser than he, because I do not fancy I know what I do not know.
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The unexamined life is not worth living.
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When I was young, I believed that life might unfold in an orderly way, according to my hopes and expectations. But now I understand that the Way winds like a river, always changing, ever onward.. My journeys revealed that the Way itself creates the warrior; that every path leads to peace, every choice to wisdom. And that life has always been, and will always be, arising in Mystery.
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Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued." "It is not living that matters, but living rightly. The unexamined life is not worth living.
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