I should not like either, but if I must choose between them, I would rather suffer than do.
What it means
Being wronged is bad, but doing wrong is worse. Socrates doesn’t want either, but if he has to choose, he’d rather be the victim of injustice than its cause.
“Suffer” and “do” both refer to injustice, which Polus names in his question. Socrates’ answer turns on which one harms you more: being treated unjustly hurts you from outside, while acting unjustly corrupts you from within.
The context
In Plato’s Gorgias, Socrates argues with Polus about power. Polus can’t see why anyone would turn down the power of a tyrant: “the power of doing whatever seems good to you in a state, killing, banishing, doing in all things as you like.” Socrates insists that “doing injustice is the greatest of evils,” greater even than being put to death unjustly.
Polus asks, “But is it the greatest? Is not suffering injustice a greater evil?” “Certainly not,” Socrates replies. “Then would you rather suffer than do injustice?” This sentence is his answer, and he goes on to say that he wouldn’t wish to be a tyrant either, if tyranny means the power to do whatever seems good to you.
Why it matters
Most of us would choose the other way without thinking: better to come out ahead than to be taken advantage of. Socrates asks a different question: not “what happens to me?” but “what do I become?” Losing an argument, a deal or some money is a loss; cheating to avoid it makes you a person who cheats.
It’s a test that applies to ordinary choices, not just dramatic ones. When the options are being wronged a little or wronging someone else a little, Socrates says to take the first, because your character is the one thing you carry into every situation afterwards.
About Socrates
Greek philosopher, c. 470–399 BC
Socrates was a philosopher in classical Athens. He wrote nothing himself, and is known mainly through the accounts of others, above all his students Plato and Xenophon. His way of questioning, now called the Socratic method, works through short questions and answers that expose the contradictions in a person’s views.
In 399 BC he was accused of impiety and of corrupting the young, and, as Plato tells it, was put to death by poison.
The source, and how we checked it
It comes from Plato, Gorgias (translated by Benjamin Jowett), Socrates died in 399 BC.
The full passage:
POLUS: Then would you rather suffer than do injustice? SOCRATES: I should not like either, but if I must choose between them, I would rather suffer than do.
We matched the quote word for word against the Project Gutenberg text of Benjamin Jowett's translation of Plato's Gorgias. Socrates wrote nothing himself: these are his words as Plato wrote them in a dialogue, and Plato wrote in Greek, so other translations word them differently. We last checked this on 3 November 2026.