“[The story of Socrates] has defined for twenty-four centuries the essential components of the life of the mind: to wit, the ability to give a reasoned basis for belief and the quest to find the truth that lies behind appearances. His practice of asking embarrassing questions, even at the risk of personal loss, and even without hope of an immediate answer, is fundamental to what we are.”
– Harold Attridge, as Dean of the College of Arts and Letters University of Notre Dame. As quoted in Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of a Liberal Education, by Martha C. Nussbaum, p. 266.