Gorgias

Quotes

Important Quotes Explained

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Quotes Important Quotes Explained

[It is] worse to do than to suffer wrong.

This short phrase in 473a represents a focal point of the dialogue. In spite of Callicles's reluctance, Socrates insists upon the greater shame involved with committing, as opposed to being the victim of, a wrongful act. This more acute shame itself results from the higher degree of evil involved with inflicting, rather than suffering, wrong, as Callicles himself concedes. One's doing wrong therefore is worse (in terms of justice and injustice) than one's having wrong done to him or her.

Though rhetoric and virtue resound within Gorgias as key topics, they also fall within the realm of an even more essential consideration—that of right and wrong (justice and injustice). Whether couched in terms of physical and mental health, the so-called "good life," politics, or any other subject, each strain of discourse within the text moves quickly towards an analysis of what is right or wrong inside the specific field of inquiry. In light of this consideration, the claim Socrates so simply expresses here about justice and injustice—right and wrong—carries with it implications for the entire range of issues within this work.