Kindle Notes & Highlights
what is their hatred but a proof that I am speaking the truth?--Hence
a doer of evil, in that he pretends to be in earnest when he is only in jest,
you would have nothing to say to me and refused to teach me. And now you bring me up in this court, which is a place not of instruction, but of punishment.
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--acting the part of a good man or of a bad.
he should not think of death or of anything but of disgrace.
to desert my post through fear of death, or any other fear; that would indeed be strange,
Men of Athens, I honour and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you,
not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but first and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul.
virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man,
if you kill such an one as I am, you will injure yourselves more than you will injure me. Nothing will injure me,
like Abinadi
the evil of doing as he is doing--the evil of unjustly taking away the life of another--is greater far.
if I may use such a ludicrous figure of speech, am a sort of gadfly, given to the state by God; and the state is a great and noble steed who is tardy in his motions owing to his very size, and requires to be stirred into life.
he who will fight for the right, if he would live even for a brief space, must have a private station and not a public one.
I have been always the same in all my actions, public as well as private,
the unexamined life is not worth living,
I ought not to do anything common or mean when in danger:
The difficulty, my friends, is not to avoid death, but to avoid unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death.
death,--they too go their ways condemned by the truth to suffer the penalty of villainy and wrong; and I must abide by my award--let them abide by theirs.
the easiest and the noblest way is not to be disabling others, but to be improving yourselves.
no evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death. He and his are not neglected by the gods;
But why, my dear Crito, should we care about the opinion of the many? Good men, and they are the only persons who are worth considering, will think of these things truly as they occurred. CRITO: But you see, Socrates, that the opinion of the many must be regarded, for what is now happening shows that they can do the greatest evil to any one who has lost their good opinion.
'Well then, since you were brought into the world and nurtured and educated by us, can you deny in the first place that you are our child and slave, as your fathers were before you? And if this is true you are not on equal terms with us; nor can you think that you have a right to do to us what we are doing to you. Would you have any right to strike or revile or do any other evil to your father or your master, if you had one, because you have been struck or reviled by him, or received some other evil at his hands?--you
Basically, he's arguing that he does nor want to live in a state of anarchy. Abiding by the laws of his country have benefitted him greatly up to this point, and he feels it is wrong to subvert the law that now puts him to death. He thinks the ones who accused him are evil, but he was not able to convince the court to free him, so he willingly obeys the law that puts him to death if the majority sentence him so, even if he has a chance to escape...
He feels that he is not above the law. His whole premise is that he is not wise, and does nor think himself above the law either.
What answer shall we make to this, Crito?
I like that he's trying to have a thoughtful discussion WITH Crito. it's a WE thing, not him talking at Crito.
that if he does not like us when he has become of age and has seen the ways of the city, and made our acquaintance, he may go where he pleases and take his goods with him. None of us laws will forbid him or interfere with him.
This is fair. you can't play both sides. if you don't like the laws, go live elsewhere. you can't call justice on others and then refuse to accept it yourself
you pretended that you preferred death to exile (compare Apol.), and that you were not unwilling to die. And now you have forgotten these fine sentiments, and pay no respect to us the laws, of whom you are the destroyer; and are doing what only a miserable slave would do, running away and turning your back upon the compacts and agreements which you made as a citizen.
you will confirm in the minds of the judges the justice of their own condemnation of you.
Powerful. When unjustly and falsely accused, DONT then give reason to be rightly accused
in your old age you were not ashamed to violate the most sacred laws from a miserable desire of a little more life?
