the oracle QUOTES

1 " I examined the poets, and I look on them as people whose talent overawes both themselves and others, people who present themselves as wise men and are taken as such, when they are nothing of the sort.

From poets, I moved to artists. No one was more ignorant about the arts than I; no one was more convinced that artists possessed really beautiful secrets. However, I noticed that their condition was no better than that of the poets and that both of them have the same misconceptions. Because the most skillful among them excel in their specialty, they look upon themselves as the wisest of men. In my eyes, this presumption completely tarnished their knowledge. As a result, putting myself in the place of the oracle and asking myself what I would prefer to be — what I was or what they were, to know what they have learned or to know that I know nothing — I replied to myself and to the god: I wish to remain who I am.

We do not know — neither the sophists, nor the orators, nor the artists, nor I— what the True, the Good, and the Beautiful are. But there is this difference between us: although these people know nothing, they all believe they know something; whereas, I, if I know nothing, at least have no doubts about it. As a result, all this superiority in wisdom which the oracle has attributed to me reduces itself to the single point that I am strongly convinced that I am ignorant of what I do not know. "

― Socrates

2 " I went to interview a man with a high reputation for wisdom, because I felt that here if anywhere I should succeed in disproving the oracle and pointing out to my divine authority 'You said that I was the wisest of men, but here is a man who is wiser than I am.' Well, I gave a thorough examination to this person... and in conversation with him I formed the impression that although in many people's opinion, and especially in his own, he appeared to be wise, in fact he was not. Then when I began to try to show him that he only thought he was wise and was not really so, my efforts were resented both by him and by many of the other people present. However, I reflected as I walked away: 'Well, I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of; but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance. At any rate it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know... [A]s I pursued my investigation at the god's command,... my honest impression was... that the people with the greatest reputations were almost entirely deficient, while others who were supposed to be their inferiors were much better qualified in practical intelligence. "

― Plato ,

3 " Having sent gifts and messengers to the oracle at Delphi, the king of the Lydians sent this message: " [The king] asks you again now whether he shall march against the Persians, and if so, whether he shall join with himself any army of men as allies." The oracle replied that, " if he should march against the Persians he should destroy a great empire." Little did he know which empire he was to destroy. It was to be his own, of course, as Cyrus the Great was ascendant.Quotations from Herodotus' Histories. "

4 " The people who demand that the oracle predict for them really want to know next year’s price on whalefur or something equally mundane. None of them wants an instant-by-instant prediction of his personal life. "

― Frank Herbert , Heretics of Dune (Dune, #5)

5 " The Oracle handed her a small, leather bound booklet, about as thick as a pamphlet, and said, “You are a teacher, yes?”

It was nice of the Oracle to phrase things in the form of a question and let people feel they were imparting information. “Yes, I am.”

“Excellent. I know teachers value learning, and this book has very valuable information on gargoyles. If Terak remains part of your life, this you’ll want to know.”

Larissa weighed it in her hand. “This is a very light history.”

The Oracle arched one fine brow. “Why would I bother with that? This, my dear, is about how gargoyles mate. "

― Danielle Monsch , Stone Guardian (Entwined Realms, #1)

6 " Fate isn't a straight road," I said, becoming the oracle that earlier in the day I had declined to be for her. " There are forks in it, many different routes to different ends. We have the free will to choose the path. "

7 " Beauty is the oracle that speaks to us all. "