Plato Quotes

“The wise man will want to be ever with him who is better than himself.”

“I am not given to finding fault, for there are innumerable fools.”

“Excellent things are rare.”

“We will be better men, braver and less idle, if we believe that one must search for the things one does not know, rather than if we believe that it is not possible to find out what we do not know and that we must not look for it.”

“'But surely "blind" is just how you would describe men who have no true knowledge of reality, and no clear standard in their mind to refer to, as a painter refers to his model, and which they can study closely before they start laying down rules about what is fair or right or good where they are needed, or maintaining, as Guardians, any rules that already exist.''Yes, blind is just about what they are'”

“People too smart to get involved in politics are doomed to live in societies run by people who aren't.”

“As there are misanthropists or haters of men, so also are there misologists, or haters of ideas.”

“In order to seek one's own direction, one must simplify the mechanics of ordinary, everyday life.”

“Health is a consumation of a love affair of all the organs of the body.”

“The excessive increase of anything causes a reaction in the opposite direction.”

“Kindness which is bestowed on the good is never lost.”

“Harmony is a symphony, and symphony is an agreement; but an agreement of disagreements while they disagree there cannot be; you cannot harmonize that which disagrees.”

“The Earth is like one of those balls made of twelve pieces of skin.”

“Music gives wings to the mind and flight to the imagination.”

“No intelligent man will ever be so bold as to put into language those things which his reason has contemplated.”

“Knowledge is the rediscovering of our own insight.”

“All men, well interrogated, answer well.”

“Because it is correct to make a priority of young people, taking care that they turn out as well as possible.”

“Come then, and let us pass a leisure hour in storytelling, and our story shall be the education of our heroes.”

“Even in reaching for the beautiful there is beauty, and also in suffering whatever it is that one suffers en route.”

“And so, when a person meets the half that is his very own, whatever his orientation, whether it's to young men or not, then something wonderful happens: the two are struck from their senses by love, by a sense of belonging to one another, and by desire, and they don't want to be separated from one another, not even for a moment.”

“Just as it would be madness to settle on medical treatment for the body of a person by taking an opinion poll of the neighbors, so it is irrational to prescribe for the body politic by polling the opinions of the people at large.”

“Homosexuality is regarded as shameful by barbarians and by those who live under despotic governments just as philosophy is regarded as shameful by them, because it is apparently not in the interest of such rulers to have great ideas engendered in their subjects, or powerful friendships or passionate love - all of which homosexuality is particularly apt to produce.”

“If there were only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their beloved, they would be the very best governors of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour, and emulating one another in honour; and when fighting at each other's side, although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or throwing away his arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure this.”

“Seven years of silent inquiry are needful for a man to learn the truth, but fourteen in order to learn how to make it known to his fellow-men.”