"An unexamined life is not worth living"

Posted by Bemused on September 11, 2003

In Reply to: "An unexamined life is not worth living" posted by ESC on September 11, 2003

: : : : : Does anyone know where this quote came from and who said it?

: : : : Socrates (470-399 BC) said it.

: : : I beg to differ. According to Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, by John Barlett and Justin Kaplan, general editor (Little, Brown and Co., Boston, 2002):

: : : The life which is unexamined is not worth living. "Apology." Plato (c. 428 - 348 B.C.)

: : It is *quoted* in Plato's "Apology [of Socrates]."

: : From "The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, 5th Ed" :

: : Socrates 469-399 BC
: : The unexamined life is not worth living.
: : Plato [tr. Lane Cooper] _Apology_ 42a

: Dueling quote books!!

and what, perchance doth the ancient tongue intend to convey by said remark?

• Perchance ESC 12/September/03
  • Plato Wrote What Socrates Said + interp. of phrase EAH 13/September/03