Socrates was smart. He was clever and funny. He was, as we can tell from just two of his students, Xenophon and Plato, clearly a great teacher. 

But is that the only reason we admire him? Because of his contributions to philosophy? Surely not. That isn’t sufficient to explain why his example has lasted for so many thousands of years, why he’s known to so many people who couldn’t possibly name one other philosopher, and why he resonated so much with the Stoics, who usually looked with scorn on other schools. We admire Socrates because he lived up to what he talked about. He practiced what he preached. 

As Marcus wrote, the truly impressive thing about the man was that he “was satisfied to treat men with justice and the gods with reverence and didn’t lose his temper unpredictably at evil done by others, didn’t make himself a slave of other people’s ignorance, didn’t treat anything that nature did as abnormal, or put up with it as an unbearable imposition, didn’t put his mind in his body’s keeping.” 

In his own time, Socrates was respected for his bravery as a soldier, for the patience he showed his wife, for the kindness he treated children with, and then finally for the restraint he showed when he was sentenced to death. He wasn’t just a thinker, he was a great citizen. A great human being. He lived those ideals of justice and courage and self-discipline and wisdom. 

It wasn’t an act. It wasn’t a career. It was who he was. 

Let that sober and inspire you. If you want to be admired, be a good person. Stand up for others. Endure their slights and silliness and worse. Insist on truth. Be in control of yourself. Live those four virtues. Every day, even if no one is watching. 

Then you’ll be worthy of undying fame.

P.S. This was originally sent on August 19, 2020. Sign up today for the Daily Stoic’s email and get our popular free 7-day course on Stoicism.