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Socrates would rather suffer wrong than do it

c. 430–405 BCE, Athens. As Plato tells it.

Where and when

c. 430–405 BCEAthens

about 2,443 years ago

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Socrates

, AthensAs Plato tells it

In plain words, ours

I'd want neither. But if I had to choose between doing wrong and being wronged, I'd rather be wronged.

I should wish neither, for my own part; but if it were necessary either to do wrong or to suffer it, I should choose to suffer rather than do it.

Plato, Gorgias 469cTranslated by W. R. M. Lamb (1925)Read the full passage (Plato, Gorgias 469c, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

In a dialogue by Plato, Socrates is arguing with Polus about a man who can put others to death as he likes. Socrates says doing wrong is the greatest of evils. Polus next asks if he would turn down a despot's power.

Checked claim by claim against: the passage around the quote.

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Just before and after

The text around the quote, word for word from the same translation.

Show the passageHide the passage

Soc. Yes, for so I must. Pol. Then do you consider that a man who puts another to death as he thinks fit, and justly puts him to death, is wretched and pitiable? Soc. Not I; but not enviable either. Pol. Did you not say just now that he was wretched? Soc. Only he who unjustly put some one to death, my friend, and I called him pitiable as well: if he acted justly, then he is unenviable. Pol. I suppose, at any rate, the man who is put to death unjustly is both pitiable and wretched. Soc. Less so than he who puts him to death, Polus, and less so than he who is put to death justly. Pol. In what way can that be, Socrates ? Soc. In this, that to do wrong is the greatest of evils. Pol. What, is this the greatest? Is not to suffer wrong a greater? Soc. By no means. Pol. Then would you wish rather to suffer wrong than to do it? Soc.

The quote: I should wish neither, for my own part; but if it were necessary either to do wrong or to suffer it, I should choose to suffer rather than do it.

Pol. Then you would not accept a despot’s power? Soc. No, if you mean by a despot’s power the same as I do. Pol. Why, what I mean is, as I did just now, the liberty of doing anything one thinks fit in one’s city—putting people to death and expelling them and doing everything at one’s own discretion. Soc. My gifted friend, let me speak, and you shall take me to task in your turn.

Plato, Gorgias 469a–cTranslated by W. R. M. Lamb (1925)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
c. 430–405 BCE. The Gorgias drops hints from different decades, so its dramatic date cannot be fixed; it is set in Socrates' lifetime.
Whose words
As Plato tells it.
How this post was checked
  • The plain-words line was read against the quote alone by a second, independent pass, which found it adds no claim the quote does not make (2026-10-03).
  • Each claim in the summary was checked by an independent pass against only the material it cites.
  • The quote itself is checked by the build: word for word, once, at the cited section of the stored translation.

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