Some stories about Socrates

Edited by Cui Lishan

1 About love

　　One day, Plato asked Socrates what was "love"?

　　Socrates took Plato to a buckwheat field and told him to go from one end to the other and pick one of the best and fullest buckwheat, but the road he had traveled could not be turned back. So Plato went, and in a few moments he came out, and Socrates, seeing him empty-handed, asked, "What about your buckwheat?" ”

　　Plato said: "When I first started walking and saw the full grains, I thought there were many more behind, maybe there were bigger and better wheat, and when I walked through a section, I found that the road was not as full as the previous particles, so I continued to move forward, and I walked to the end." ”

　　Socrates said to Plato: This is love.

　　2 About marriage

　　One day Plato asked Socrates what was "marriage"?

　　Socrates didn't say a word, and took him to a grove of shirts, or told Plato to go from the source of the woods to that end, and could not turn back, and cut down a good shirt tree as a Christmas tree.

　　After a while, Socrates saw Plato, dragging out a sparsely leafed fir tree, and asked, "Is this the best one?" ”

　　Plato said, "No, but when I was halfway there, I saw that the fir tree was not as lush as the one in front of me, and I was afraid that the fir tree behind me would be worse, so I cut down a fir tree that I thought was okay." ”

　　Socrates said, "This is marriage. ”

　　3 About the affair

　　Plato asked Socrates what was an "affair"?

　　Socrates took Plato to a rose garden and told him, "You can walk back and forth here, you can pick the most beautiful flowers you think, and there is no limit to the number." ”

　　Plato went in happily, and after a long time came out, hung his head, and said, "I plucked the beautiful flowers, and in a few moments they withered." ”

　　Socrates said, "This is an affair." ”

　　4 About life

　　Plato asked Socrates what is "life"?

　　Socrates still took Plato to this rose garden, or told him to walk back and forth here to find the most beautiful roses. But this time, Socrates waited for a few days and did not see Plato come out, so he ran into the garden to see what it was, and found that Plato had built a small house in the garden, raised flowers, and carefully watered it, Socrates nodded, and said, "It seems that Plato has realized what life is." ”

　　Life has no foresight, can not be repeated; the past has passed, missed has also left you, no regrets, starting at this moment, as long as life has not come to an end, there are opportunities: to have a good eye to discover, some things, do not belong to you, always not yours, even if you get a hand, often not what you originally wanted to be; happy life is actually very simple, do what we like to do, love the people we love...

　　5 About happiness

　　A group of students are looking for happiness everywhere, but they encounter many troubles, sorrows, and pains. They asked the great philosopher Socrates: "Teacher, where is happiness?" "

　　Socrates said, "You better build me a boat first!" "The group of students put aside the search for pleasure for the time being, found the tools for shipbuilding, and spent seven seven forty-nine days sawing down a tall and large tree, hollowing out the core of the tree, and building a canoe boat. The canoe was launched, and they invited Socrates to board it, and as they rowed together, they sang in unison.

　　Socrates asked, "Children, are you happy?" "

　　They replied in unison, "So happy!" "

　　Socrates said, "Happiness is like this, it often comes to you when you are too busy for a definite purpose to take care of other things." "

　　6 About truth

　　The student asked Socrates for advice on how to uphold the truth. Socrates sat everyone down. Holding an apple, he walked slowly past each classmate's seat, saying as he walked, "Please concentrate and pay attention to the smell in the air." ”

　　Then he went back to the podium, lifted the apple up and shook it from side to side, asking, "Did any of my classmates smell the apple?"

　　One student raised his hand and stood up and replied, "I smell it, it's a fragrance!" Socrates asked again, "Who else smelled it?" "Students, you look at me, I look at you, and they don't make a sound.

　　Holding the apple again, Socrates slowly walked past each student's seat, instructing as he walked: "Please be sure to concentrate and sniff the smell in the air." ”

　　Back on the podium, he asked, "Do you smell apples?" ”

　　This time, the vast majority of the students raised their hands. After a pause, Socrates walked among the students for the third time and asked each student to sniff the apple. After returning to the podium, he asked again: "Students, do you smell apples?" ”

　　As soon as his voice dropped, all but one of the students raised their hands. The student who did not raise his hand looked left and right, and also hurriedly raised his hand. His demeanor caused a burst of laughter.

　　Socrates also laughed: "What do you smell?" ”

　　The students replied in unison, "Scent! ”

　　The smile on Socrates's face was gone, and he held up the apple and said slowly, "I am very sorry, this is a fake apple, and it does not taste anything." ”

　　7 About yourself

　　The great Greek philosopher Socrates, knowing that his time was running out, knew that his time was running out, and he wanted to test and enlighten his assistant, who usually seemed very good. He called his assistant to the bed and said, "I don't have much wax left, I have to find another wax and light it, do you understand what I mean?" ”

　　"Understand," said the assistant hurriedly, "that the brilliance of your thoughts has been passed down very well..."

　　"But," said Socrates slowly, "I need a successor of the finest, who must not only have considerable wisdom, but also full confidence and extraordinary courage... Will you help me find one? ”

　　"I'm going to do my best." Socrates smiled.

　　The loyal and diligent assistant, tirelessly began to look around through various channels. But he brought one after another, all of which Socrates politely refused. Once, when the assistant returned to no avail again, the terminally ill Socrates sat up hard: "It's really hard for you, but the people you have found are actually not as good as ..."

　　"I will redouble my efforts," said the assistant earnestly, "and I will look all over the world and dig out the best candidates." Socrates smiled and stopped talking.

　　Half a year later, Socrates looked like he was about to die, and the best candidate still had no eyebrows. The assistant was ashamed: "I'm so sorry for you, I disappointed you!" ”

　　"It is I who are disappointed, but I am sorry for yourself," Socrates closed his eyes in frustration, paused for a long time, and then said without complaint: "Originally, the best is yourself, but you do not dare to believe yourself, only to ignore yourself, to lose... In fact, everyone is the best, the difference is how to know themselves, how to discover and reuse themselves..." A generation of philosophers has left the world that he once paid deep attention to forever.

　　The assistant regretted it so much that he blamed himself for the rest of his life.

　　In order not to repeat the mistakes of that assistant, everyone who aspires to success and is not willing to sink should keep in mind this wise saying of the sage: "The best is yourself!" ”

　　8 About desire

　　One day, a man who was familiar with socrates in life suddenly found himself in the market looking intently at a few tacky pottery pieces, and was quite surprised, so he went forward and asked: "Mr. Socrates, where are you from Yaxing today?" ”

　　Socrates replied, "What I've always been interested in is to see how much there is on the market that I don't need. ”

　　Don't buy what you want, buy what you need; what you don't need is expensive, even if it costs you a penny.

　　9 About the bosom

　　Socrates, the great philosopher of ancient Greece, one day strolled with an old friend in the city of Athens, chatting as he walked. Suddenly, an inexplicable man rushed out, punched Socrates with a stick, and fled. His friend immediately turned back to the guy to settle the score.

　　But Socrates pulled him aside and forbade him to take revenge.

　　The friend said, "Are you afraid of that person?" ”

　　"No, I'm not afraid of him."

　　"When people beat you, don't you fight back?"

　　Socrates smiled and said, "Old friend, don't get angry. If a donkey kicks you, do you have to pay it back? ”

　　The heart is selfless and the world is wide, and there is a broad mind, so that you can swallow the sun and the moon and put it away freely! Too calculating gains and losses, honor and humiliation, the road of life will become narrower and narrower!

　　10 About persistence

　　Socrates once assigned an assignment to his students:

　　Do a simple morning exercise every morning, raise your left hand and right hand fifty times.

　　A week later Socrates asked his students who was doing it, and all the men raised their hands,

　　A month later, the remaining half raised their hands, and after half a year only 10 people raised their hands.

　　A year later, When Socrates brought it up again, only one man raised his hand, and he was plato, another thinker!

　　Revelation: The easiest thing in the world is persistence, and the hardest thing is persistence. It is easy because as long as they are willing to do it, everyone can do it; it is difficult because only a few people can really do it.