I usually think about Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure when I think about Socrates, but I read a little blurb about the guy this morning. I never really realized that Socrates never wrote a single book. Everything we know about him comes from second hand writings, mostly from Plato.
Socrates was a soldier for the army of Athens and just talked to people. He wasn't paid to do it; He just liked it. And he claimed that his ignorance made him better - we can't really know anything according to Socrates. He was executed for corrupting the youth of the day, and at his trial gave the famous quote that an unexamined life is not worth living.
Here's to Socrates.