Plato Quotes

“Who are the true philosophers? Those whose passion is to love the truth.”

“For neither birth, nor wealth, nor honors, can awaken in the minds of men the principles which should guide those who from their youth aspire to an honorable and excellent life, as Love awakens them”

“Worthy of honor is he who does no injustice, and more than twofold honor, if he not only does no injustice himself, but hinders others from doing any.”

“Death is not the worst that can happen to men.”

“May I deem the wise man rich, and may I have such a portion of gold as none but a prudent man can either bear or employ.”

“Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being”

“You cannot conceive the many without the one...The study of the unit is among those that lead the mind on and turn it to the vision of reality.”

“Now nothing can be more important than that the work of a soldier should be well done.”

“I do not think it is permitted that a better man be harmed by a worse.”

“The whole life of the philosopher is a preparation for death.”

“Whenever a person strives, by the help of dialectic, to start in pursuit of every reality by a simple process of reason, independent of all sensuous information - never flinching, until by an act of the pure intelligence he has grasped the real nature of good - he arrives at the very end of the intellectual world.”

“Those who have knowledge are more confident than those who have no knowledge, and they are more confident after they have learned than before.”

“I know not how I may seem to others, but to myself I am but a small child wandering upon the vast shores of knowledge, every now and then finding a small bright pebble to content myself with”

“We must infer that all things are produced more plentifully and easily and of a better quality when one man does one thing which is natural to him and does it at the right time, and leaves other things.”

“Many men are loved by their enemies, and hated by their friends, and are the friends of their enemies, and the enemies of their friends.”

“The race of the guardians must be kept pure.”

“Truth is the beginning of every good thing, both in heaven andon earth; and he who would be blessed and happy should be fromthe first a partaker of truth, for then he can be trusted.”

“Each citizen should play his part in the community according to his individual gifts.”

“[Not enough is known about solid geometry] and for two reasons: in the first place, no government places value on it; this leads to a lack of energy in the pursuit of it, and it is difficult. In the second place, students cannot learn it unless they have a teacher. But then a teacher can hardly be found.”

“Life should be lived as play.”

“He is unworthy of the name of man who is ignorant of the fact that the diagonal of a square is incommensurable with its side.”

“A wise ignorance is an essential part of knowledge.”

“Train children not by compulsion but as if they were playing.”

“We are like people looking for something they have in their hands all the time; we're looking in all directions except at the thing we want, which is probably why we haven't found it.”

“Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.”