Plato's Quotes
Justice means minding one's own business and not meddling with other men's concerns.
PlatoThinking: the talking of the soul with itself.
PlatoRhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men.
PlatoWise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.
PlatoDemocracy... is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.
PlatoThen not only custom, but also nature affirms that to do is more disgraceful than to suffer injustice, and that justice is equality.
PlatoCourage is knowing what not to fear.
PlatoWe can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.
PlatoKnow one knows whether death, which people fear to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good.
PlatoWhen the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing more to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.
PlatoInjustice is censured because the censures are afraid of suffering, and not from any fear which they have of doing injustice.
PlatoMusic is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue.
PlatoIf a man neglects education, he walks lame to the end of his life.
PlatoThe direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life.
PlatoThe most important part of education is proper training in the nursery.
PlatoNo man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nature and education.
PlatoFor good nurture and education implant good constitutions.
PlatoThe man who makes everything that leads to happiness depends upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation, the man of manly character and of wisdom.
PlatoOur object in the construction of the state is the greatest happiness of the whole, and not that of any one class.
PlatoLove is a serious mental disease.
PlatoAt the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.
PlatoLove is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the Gods.
PlatoThe god of love lives in a state of need. It is a need. It is an urge. It is a homeostatic imbalance. Like hunger and thirst, it's almost impossible to stamp out.
PlatoNo evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death.
PlatoDeath is not the worst that can happen to men.
PlatoMust not all things at the last be swallowed up in death?
PlatoScience is nothing but perception.
PlatoWisdom alone is the science of other sciences.
PlatoThe blame is his who chooses: God is blameless.
PlatoBetter a little which is well done, than a great deal imperfectly.
PlatoThe greatest wealth is to live content with little.
PlatoThe first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile.
PlatoThe punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men.
PlatoDemocracy passes into despotism.
PlatoAttention to health is life's greatest hindrance.
PlatoPoetry is nearer to vital truth than history.
PlatoHuman behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.
PlatoA good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.
PlatoOpinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance.
PlatoAnd what, Socrates, is the food of the soul? Surely, I said, knowledge is the food of the soul.
PlatoKnowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous.
PlatoThe learning and knowledge that we have, is, at the most, but little compared with that of which we are ignorant.
PlatoKnowledge without justice ought to be called cunning rather than wisdom.
PlatoEntire ignorance is not so terrible or extreme an evil, and is far from being the greatest of all; too much cleverness and too much learning, accompanied with ill bringing-up, are far more fatal.
PlatoKnowledge is true opinion.
PlatoKnowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.
PlatoJustice in the life and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens.
PlatoIt is right to give every man his due.
PlatoThere are three classes of men; lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain.
PlatoCunning... is but the low mimic of wisdom.
Plato