He could very likely have appealed for leniency. At least he could have saved his life by agreeing to leave Athens. But had he done this he would not have been Socrates. He valued his conscience--and the truth-- higher than life.
("Sophie's World")
More Quotes from Jostein Gaarder:
Hegel said that `truth` is subjective, thus rejecting the existence of any `truth` above or beyond human reason. All knowledge is human knowledge.Jostein Gaarder
Kierkegaard also said that truth is `subjective`. By this he did not mean it doesn't matter what we think or believe. He meant that the really important truths are personal. Only these truths are `true for me`.
Jostein Gaarder
Athens is like a sluggish horse, and I am the gadfly trying to sting it into life.
Jostein Gaarder
We can be hindered in our development and our personal growth by political conditions. Outer circumstances can constrain us. Only when we are free to develop our innate abilities can we live as free beings. But we are just as much determined by inner potential and outer opportunities as the Stone Age boy on the Rhine, the lion in Africa, or the apple tree in the garden.
Jostein Gaarder
To prove religious faith by human reason is rationalistic claptrap.
Jostein Gaarder
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Based on Topics: Life QuotesBased on Keywords: conscience--and, truth--
If you do not understand a man you cannot crush him. And if you do understand him, very probably you will not.
Gilbert K. Chesterton
Accuracy of observation is the equivalent of accuracy of thinking.
Wallace Stevens
Every anarchist is a baffled dictator.
Benito Mussolini