Lessons to Learn

18 Life Changing Lessons to Learn from Socrates

By Luminita D.Saviuc

If I have learned something from Socrates is that you cannot teach people anything; you can only make them think. You can only draw out of them the wisdom which is latent within them. And by doing so, you help open their eyes, making them realize that they were born with wings and that they can fly, as high as they want to fly…

Anyway, I gathered what I thought to be some of Socrates best quotes and compiled them into 18 life changing lessons that you might want to learn. 

Here they are:

1. True wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

“I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.” ~ Socrates

“To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.” ~ Socrates

“I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.” ~ Socrates

“True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.” ~ Socrates

2. Be as you wish to seem.

“The shortest and surest way to live with honour in the world, is to be in reality what we would appear to be; and if we observe, we shall find, that all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice of them.” ~ Socrates

3. Nothing changes until you do.

“Let him that would move the world first move himself.” ~ Socrates

“Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity.” ~ Socrates

4. Virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man, public as well as private.

“I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul. I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man, public as well as private. This is my teaching, and if this is the doctrine which corrupts the youth, I am a mischievous person.” ~ Socrates
5. Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings.

“Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall gain easily what others have laboured hard for.” ~ Socrates

6. Those who realize that they have enough, are truly rich.

“He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.” ~ Socrates

“Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.” ~ Socrates

7. Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.

“Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.” ~ Socrates

8. Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued.

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” ~ Socrates

“The really important thing is not to live, but to live well. And to live well meant, along with more enjoyable things in life, to live according to your principles.” ~ Socrates

9. Everything in life changes, nothing ever stays the same.

“If you don’t get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don’t want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can’t hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is law and no amount of pretending will alter that reality.” ~ Socrates

10. Being busy is not enough. It’s what are you busy with that counts.

“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” ~ Socrates

11. God knows best what is good for us.

“Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us.” ~ Socrates

12. Don’t confine yourself to certain parts of the world, explore it all.

“I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.” ~ Socrates

13. Don’t let other people do your thinking for you.

“To find yourself, think for yourself.” ~ Socrates

14. Don’t rush into friendships.

“Be slow to fall into friendship, but when you are in, continue firm and constant.” ― Socrates

15. Be impeccable with your word.

“False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.” ~ Socrates

16. Never return evil for evil. You will hurt yourself in the process.

“One who is injured ought not to return the injury, for on no account can it be right to do an injustice; and it is not right to return an injury, or to do evil to any man, however much we have suffered from him.” ~ Socrates

“The end of life is to be like God, and the soul following God will be like Him.” ~ Socrates

17. All men’s souls are immortal.

“All men’s souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine.” ~ Socrates

18. Never stop wondering.

“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” ~ Socrates

BONUS

“The easiest and noblest way is not to be crushing others, but to be improving yourselves. ” ~ Socrates

“No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.” ~ Socrates

“If you want to be a good saddler, saddle the worst horse; for if you can tame one, you can tame all.” ~ Socrates

“In all of us, even in good men, there is a lawless wild-beast nature, which peers out in sleep.” ~ Socrates

Source: http://www.purposefairy.com

Argument with Teacher - " Does the Sun rotate? "

Solar system is the topic of study in Abhinav Class. Infact, Abhinav Teacher requested for any study material among students. Abhinav quickly stood up and replied " My encylopedia has details about solar system". Two days passed.

Yesterday Abhinav's Teacher called Priya as fellow teacher and informed that " Abhinav is arguing with me regarding Sun rotation". 

Abhinav's Teacher: I checked in all available books and other 1st grade teacher. Books dont have that particular details about Sun rotation. Other teacher also confirmed that Sun is static and it dont rotates.

Priya: No Madam. Abhinav is right and he has one solar system puzzle game where it is mentioned. Still, I will google and confirm with you.

Finally google confirms the Sun rotation.

"

The rotation of the Sun is kind of hard to pin down. A spot on the equator of the Sun takes 24.47 days to rotate around the Sun and return to the same position. Astronomers call this sidereal rotation period, which is different from the synodic period – the amount of time it takes for a spot on the Sun to rotate back to face the Earth. But the Sun’s rotation rate decreases as you approach the poles, so it can actually take 38 days for regions around the poles to rotate once

"

Abhinav felt happy. But we instructed him that " dont argue in simple manner but quote your source and ask your teacher to verify it"

PS: Abhinav likes Space, Galaxy, Sun....etc. He want to go Jupiter for Holidays...

Stopped Buying Real Fruit Juices

No Customer Care....
No Grievance Addressal mechanism
Really Bad....

Deaf Dumb Blind and Appendix

Abhinav was taking Human Body game in softscool. He really impressed with how human body is designed and its functionality.

Abhinav raised few questions.

1. Though Deaf person has good ears, why he cant hear?

2. Though Blind person has good eyes, why he cant see?

3. Though Dumb person has good mouth, why he cant speak?

I explained to Abhinav that it is looking very good in outside only. But internally it has some issues like no growth, damaged, over growth and side effects. He understood little, but he sill had doubtful face. He will learn over a time.

Abhinav strongly belives in GOD. He trust GOD unconditionally, When i was explaining about human body, I said Appendix has " No Use" for us. 

But it disturbs few people by growing bigger. Abhinav simply denied and he said " God has given every part for a reason, So Appendix also serves some purpose; But only we are not aware, i will find it".

I am awestuck. He is breeding scientist.

Free online Kids Test

It is been while. 

Me and Priya are very much following that Abhinav should not be burden with "Study Study Study" buzz even during exam time. But whenever he likes to put extra effort on his favorites ( EVS and Maths), we wont stop it. Infact, Abhinav wrote FA4 exam without preparing at home. It is clealry telling that he is concentrating very good in class room. Though his Teacher complians about his carelessness and mischeviousness at class. She also tells about his lack of concenteration on relative basis. It is real conflict. But he is very good in learning provided he likes that subject. He is average in Hindi ( probably inheritance from me and Priya).

Abhinav is enjoying the Free online Kids test. Thanks to IXL and Softschool. IXL offers free 20 question in Maths and English each on daily basis. IXL framework is very good and it gives step by step platform for stressfree Learning. It is all "Choose the best answer type with Pictorial representation whereever is possible". If you choose wrong answer, it gives very good explanation.

Softschool also gives extraordinarly learning without boundaries for kids. With parents, Kids can enjoy these Games based Learning. Simple addition is mixed with coloring which triggers effective participation by Abhinav. 

Parents, why dont you try good things which comes at free ( except data cost).

Big Snail

We spotted big snail in our House compound wall. Snails are amazing species. I clicked with my Samsung Mobile :( .

Few Facts about Snail:

1. Some snails Hibernate.

Some species of snails actually hibernate during the colder months of the year. They cover their bodies with a thin layer of mucus, which prevents them from drying out. Sometimes snails are also able to hibernate in the summer to survive if they are faced with a severe drought. They live off of the stored up fat during this time of year. This process is one of the many reasons why they have been able to survive for million years.

2. Snails can have a long life.

The life span for snails depends on their habitat and the species. Some of them only live for about 5 years. However, others in the wild are believed to be up to 25 years old in unusual occasions.

3. There are huge snails.

The largest land snail recorded was 12 inches long and weighed near 2 pounds. It belonged to the Giant African Land Snail species. Other species are extremely small being only a few centimeters long when they are adults and weighing just a couple of ounces.

4. Snail Moving.

While moving, snails they leave behind a trail of mucus. This mucus acts as a powerful lubricant to reduce friction against the surface. This is why they are able to move upside down, around corners, and other situations.

5. Snail Mucus.

It is a myth that this mucus is going to make humans ill. Many people worry that snails being in their garden will ruin the foods grown there and make them unfit for consumption but that is all false.

6. Living with no rush.

Garden snails (helix apersa) a top speed of 50 yards per hour, this is about 1.3 cm. per second. While they don’t move fast, they do move at a very steady pace. The snails are one of the slowest creatures on the entire Earth.

Crow Story by Abhinav

Abhinav is showing his writing skills last month onwards. I am not sure whether he got push from his School, he wrote two stories (The great Crow Story and Cow Story). I asked him " are you interested in writing diary every day?". He said Yes very quickly.

Crow Story:

The Crow Story by Abhinav