Gorgias by Plato Quotes

Context

Socrates and Polus loved to shoot the breeze about small, everyday sorts of things; you know, like virtue and suffering.

Plato's Gorgias, in which this quote is found, is a dialogue about rhetoric and power and the nature of evil; as usual, Plato isn’t pulling any punches.

Anyway, Socrates and Polus disagree about which is worse: doing injustice or suffering injustice. Polus thinks that suffering injustice is always worse because…well, who wants to suffer injustice? Would you rather have some bully take your lunch money or be the one with two lunches?

But Socrates isn't so sure: he says that evildoers are necessarily unhappy. Evil provokes shame in almost all of us (we can’t forget the sociopaths), and someone who suffers injustice will never feel as much shame as someone who commits it.

You can think of Socrates' quote as a proto-anti-bullying campaign.

Where you've heard it

Has anyone ever done you wrong and then made you feel even worse because they feel bad about it?

Socrates knew what that was all about.

But let's face it: you've probably only heard this one in an ethics class.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

It can't really be pretentious to tell people not to be a bully, right?