Quotes by Plato

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.

Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the Gods.

Love is a grave mental disease.

To do injustice is more disgraceful than to suffer it.

The essence of knowledge is self-knowledge.

The worst form of injustice is pretended justice.

Money-makers are tiresome company, as they have no standard but cash value.

A grateful mind is a great mind which eventually attracts to itself great things.

All learning has an emotional base.

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.

The wisest have the most authority.

Knowledge is true opinion.

The greatest wealth is to live content with little.

Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.

Our object in the construction of the state is the greatest happiness of the whole, and not that of any one class.

We are twice armed if we fight with faith.

No one knows whether death, which people fear to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good.

Mathematics is like checkers in being suitable for the young, not too difficult, amusing, and without peril to the state.

What of his beard? Are you not of Homer's opinion, who says Youth is most charming when the beard first appears?

I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning.

Complacent ignorance is the most lethal sickness of the soul.

Of all the animals, the boy is most unmanageable.

Behold! human beings living in a underground den ... Like ourselves ... they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave.

The greatest privilege of a human life is to become a midwife to the awakening of the Soul in another person.

Cunning is but the low mimic of wisdom.

Human behavior flows from three main sources desire, emotion, and knowledge.

Any city however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich. These are at war with one another.

The true physician is also a ruler having the human body as a subject, and is not a mere money-maker.

He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition, youth and age are equally a burden.

The love of man to woman is a thing common and of course, and at first partakes more of instinct and passion than of choice; but true friendship between man and man is infinite and immortal.

As such, it describes a relationship that falls short -- for whatever reason, of the fuller communion of romantic sexual love.

Death is not the worst that can happen to men.

Desires are only the lack of something: and those who have the greatest desires are in a worse condition than those who have none, or very slight ones.

Renouncing the honors at which the world aims, I desire only to know the truth... and to the maximum of power, I exhort all other men to do the same.

The man who finds that in the course of his life he has done a lot of wrong often wakes up at night in terror, like a child with a nightmare, and his life is full of foreboding: but the man who is conscious of no wrongdoing is filled with cheerfulness and with the comfort of old age.

On the virtuous man He combines the highest, lowest and middle chords in complete harmony within himself.

There are some whom the applause of the multitude has deluded into the belief that they are really statesmen.

The music masters familiarize children's minds with rhythms and melodies, thus making them more civilized, more balanced, better adjusted in themselves, and more capable in whatever they say or do, for rhythm and harmony are essential to the whole of life.

My meaning is, that any state of action or passion implies previous action or passion. It does not become because it is becoming, but it is in a state of becoming because it becomes; neither does it suffer because it is in a state of suffering, but it is in a state of suffering because it suffers.

Everything that deceives does so by casting a spell.

Fields and trees are not willing to teach me anything; but this can be effected by men residing in the city.

And a democracy, I suppose, comes into being when the poor, winning the victory, put to death some of the other party, drive out others, and grant the rest of the citizens an equal share in both citizenship and offices.

To be curious about that which is not one's concern while still in ignorance of oneself is ridiculous.

I fear this is not the right exchange to attain virtue, to exchange pleasures for pleasures, pains for pains and fears for fears, the greater for the less like coins, but that the only valid currency for which all these things should be exchanged is wisdom.

The only real ill-doing is the deprivation of knowledge.

Do you mean that the tyrant will dare to use violence against the people who fathered him, and raise his hand against them if they oppose him? So the tyrant is a parricide, and little comfort to his old parent.

Conversion is not implanting eyes, for they exist already; but giving them a right direction, which they have not.

To him who disgraces his family life is no life, and to such a person there is no one a friend, neither while living nor when dead.

Time on its back bears all things far away -- Full many a challenge is wrought by many a day -- Shape, fortune, name, and nature all decay.

I fast for greater physical and mental efficiency.

True friendship can exist only between equals.

They assembled together and dedicated these as the first-fruits of their love to Apollo in his Delphic temple, inscribing there those maxims which are on every tongue- 'know thyselP and 'Nothing overmuch.'

Writing is the geometry of the soul.

Geometry will draw the soul toward truth and create the spirit of philosophy.

Any man may easily do harm, but not every man can do good to another.

By the golden chain Homer meant nothing else than the sun.

The love of the gods belongs to anyone who has given to true virtue and nourished it, and if any human being could become immortal, it would be he.

The tyranny imposed on the soul by anger, or fear, or lust, or pain, or envy, or desire, I generally call 'injustice.'

The only thing worse than suffering an injustice is committing an injustice.

No man will survive who genuinely opposes you or any other crowd and prevents the occurrence of many unjust and illegal happenings in the city. A man who really fights for justice must lead a private, not a public, life if he is to survive for even a short time.

Ideas are the source of all things.

The poets are nothing but interpreters of the gods, each one possessed by the divinity to whom he is in bondage.

Interference by the three classes with each other s jobs, and interchange of jobs between them, therefore, does the greatest harm to our state, and we are entirely justified in calling it the worst of evils.

Necessity, who is the mother of our invention.

When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty and there is nothing to fear from them then he is always stirring up some wary or other in order that the people may require a leader.

That the makers of laws are the majority who are weak; and they make laws and distribute praises and censures with a view to themselves and to their own interests.

I am inclined to think that these muscles and bones of mine would have gone off long ago to Megara or Boeotia--by the dog they would, if they had been moved only by their own idea of what was best.

I can show you that the art of calculation has to do with odd and even numbers in their numerical relations to themselves and to each other.

Thus does the Muse herself move men divinely inspired, and through them thus inspired a Chain hangs together of others inspired divinely likewise.

Music is a defining element of character.

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

Through obedience learn to command.

Between knowledge of what really exists and ignorance of what does not exist lies the domain of opinion. It is more obscure than knowledge, but clearer than ignorance.

Always be kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle.

The physician, to the extent he is a physician, considers only the good of the patient in what he prescribes, and his own not at all.

The ultimate design of the Mysteries ... was to lead us back to the principles from which we descended, ... a perfect enjoyment of intellectual spiritual good.

Is it not also true that no physician, in so far as he is a physician, considers or enjoins what is for the physician's interest, but that all seek the good of their patients? For we have agreed that a physician strictly so called, is a ruler of bodies, and not a maker of money, have we not?

And what do you say of lovers of wine... they are glad of any pretext of drinking any wine.

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

Then we got into a labyrinth, and, when we thought we were at the end,
came out again at the beginning, having still to see as much as ever.

Nothing could be more important than that the work of a soldier is well done. No tools will make a man a skilled workmen, or master of defense, or be of any use to him who has not learned how to handle them and has never bestowed any attention on them.

Where reverence is, there is fear; for he who has a feeling of reverence and shame about the commission of any action, fears and is afraid of an ill reputation.

We've heard many people say and have often said ourselves that justice is doing one's own work and not meddling with what isn't one's own ... Then, it turns out that this doing one's own work-provided that it comes to be in a certain way-is justice.

He who refuses to rule is liable to be ruled by one who is worse than himself.

For, let me tell you that the more the pleasures of the body fade away, the greater to me are the pleasure and charm of conversation.

We do not learn, and that what we call learning is only a process of recollection.

Prefer diligence before idleness, unless you esteem rust above brightness.

The Paphian Queen to Cnidos made repair Across the tide to see her image there: Then looking up and round the prospect wide, When did Praxiteles see me thus? she cried.

Those wretches who never have experienced the sweets of wisdom and virtue, but spend all their time in revels and debauches, sink downward day after day, and make their whole life one continued series of errors.

The wolf cares not, how many the sheep be.

We are bound to our bodies like an oyster to its shell.

The most important stage of any enterprise is the beginning.

A State would be happy where philosophers were kings, or kings philosophers.

Upon consideration of the central question of the moon's toughness there can be little doubt. It is hella tough.

He who is only an athlete is too crude, too vulgar, too much a savage. He who is a scholar only is too soft, to effeminate. The ideal citizen is the scholar athlete, the man of thought and the man of action.

This and no other is the root from
which a tyrant springs; when he
first appears he is a protector.

The people always have some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness. ... This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.

Every unjust man is unjust against his will.

Virtue is voluntary, vice involuntary.

Let men of all ranks whether they are successful, or unsuccessful, whether they triumph or not; let them do their duty, and rest satisfied.

Fly from the company of the wicked -- fly and turn not back.

He, O men, is the wisest, who, like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing.

To be at once exceedingly wealthy and good is impossible.

The wisest of you men is he who has realized, like Socrates, that in respect of wisdom he is really worthless.

I must yield to you, for you are irresistible.

The greatest mistake physicians make is that they attempt to cure the body without attempting to cure the mind, yet the mind and the body are one and should not be treated separately!

Give me a different set of mothers and I will give you a different world.

Let no one destitute of geometry enter my doors.

No matter at all, I replied; for the point is not who said the words, but whether they are true or not.

One should turn towards the main ocean of the-beautiful-in-the-world so that one may by, contemplation of this Form, bring forth in all their splendor many fair fruits of discourse and meditation in a plenteous crop of philosophy.

All who do evil and dishonorable things do them against their will.

And if we are good, we are beneficent: for all good things are beneficial. Are they not?

People regard the same things, some as just and others as unjust, -- about these they dispute; and so there arise wars and fightings among them.

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.

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

Truth is the beginning of every good thing, both in heaven and

on earth; and he who would be blessed and happy should be from

the first a partaker of truth, for then he can be trusted.

Entire ignorance is not so terrible or extreme an evil, and is far from being the greatest of all.

No one is so cowardly that Love could not inspire him to heroism.

There should exist among the citizens neither extreme poverty nor again excessive wealth, for both are productive of great evil.

If a man can be properly said to love something, it must be clear that he feels affection for it as a whole, and does not love part of it to the exclusion of the rest.

A good education consists in knowing how to sing and dance well.

Physical excellence does not of itself produce a good mind and character: on the other hand, excellence of mind and character will make the best of the physique it is given.

In a democracy only will the freeman of nature design to dwell.

Freedom in a democracy is the glory of the state, and, therefore, in a democracy only will the freeman of nature deign to dwell.

The man who arrives at the doors of artistic creation with none of the madness of the Muses would be convinced that technical ability alone was enough to make an artist... what that man creates by means of reason will pale before the art of inspired beings.

I know nothing more worthy of a man's ambition than that his son be the best of men.

What is better adapted than the festive use of wine in the first place to test and in the second place to train the character of a man, if care be taken in the use of it? What is there cheaper or more innocent?

It gives me great pleasure to converse with the aged. They have been over the road that all of us must travel, and know where it is rough and difficult and where it is level and easy.

The community suffers nothing very terrible if its cobblers are bad and become degenerate and pretentious; but if the Guardians of its laws and constitution, who alone have the opportunity to bring it good government and prosperity, become a mere sham, then clearly it is completely ruined.

The deity on purpose sings the liveliest of all lyrics through the most miserable poet.

According to Diotima, Love is not a god at all, but is rather a spirit that mediates between people and the objects of their desire. Love is neither wise nor beautiful, but is rather the desire for wisdom and beauty.

Education and admonition commence in the first years of childhood, and last to the very end of life.

That politician who curries favor with the citizens and indulges them and fawns upon them and has a presentiment of their wishes, and is skillful in gratifying them, he is esteemed a great statesman.

Men of Athens, I honor and I love you, but I will obey the god rather than you and as long as I draw breath and am able, I shall not cease to practice philosophy, to exhort you and in my usual way to point out to any one of you whom I happen to meet.

For the unexamined life is not worth living.

The cause of all sins in every case lies in the person's excessive love of self.

Nothing more excellent or valuable than wine was every granted by the gods to man.

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

It's like this, I think: the excellence of a good body doesn't make the soul good, but the other way around: the excellence of a good soul makes the body as good as it can be.

The Dance, of all the arts, is the one that most influences the soul. Dancing is divine in its nature and is the gift of God.

On the other hand, I can't not defend her, since I can't help feeling it is wrong to stand idly by when I hear justice coming under attack, and not come to her defence for as long as I have breath in my body and a tongue in my head. So the best thing is to make what defence I can.

And the quality of good judgement is clearly a form of knowledge and skill, as it is because of knowledge and not because of ignorance that we judge well.

When man is not properly trained, he is the most savage animal on the face of the globe.

Virtue is a kind of health, beauty and good habit of the soul.

Music then is simply the result of the effects of Love on rhythm and harmony.

Those whose hearts are fixed on Reality itself deserve the title of Philosophers.

Our greatest blessings come to us by way of madness, provided the madness is given us by divine gift.

Let early education be a sort of amusement. You will then be better able to find out the natural bent.

Then the lover, who is true and no counterfeit, must of necessity be loved by his love.

One trait in the philosopher's character we can assume is his love of the knowledge that reveals eternal reality, the realm unaffected by change and decay.

I know too well that these arguments from probabilities are imposters, and unless great caution is observed in the use of them, they are apt to be deceptive.

The God of Love lives in a state of need.

The truth is that we isolate a particular kind of love and appropriate it for the name of love, which really belongs to a wider whole.

In one sense it is evident that the art of kingship does include the art of lawmaking. But the political ideal is not full authority for laws but rather full authority for a man who understands the art of kingship and has kingly ability.

And isn't it a bad thing to be deceived about the truth, and a good thing to know what the truth is? For I assume that by knowing the truth you mean knowing things as they really are.

No man should be angry with what is true.

Let him know how to choose the mean and avoid the extremes on either side, as far as possible... For this is the way of happiness.

There is nothing so delightful as the hearing, or the speaking of truth. For this reason, there is no conversation so agreeable as that of the man of integrity, who hears without any intention to betray, and speaks without any intention to deceive.

Love is a severe mental disorder.

As wolves love lambs so lovers love their loves.

Our love for our children springs from the soul's greatest yearning for immortality.

Do not expect justice where might is right.

Misanthropy develops when without art one puts complete trust in somebody thinking the man absolutely true and sound and reliable and then a little later discovers him to be bad and unreliable ... and when it happens to someone often ... he ends up ... hating everyone.

We understand why children are afraid of darkness ... but why are men afraid of light?

The makers of fortunes have a second love of money as a creation of their own, resembling the affection of authors for their own poems, or of parents for their children, besides that natural love of it for the sake of use and profit.

There is a ... matter -- much more valuable and divine than natural philosophy . ... On this matter I must speak to you in enigmas.

Education in music is most sovereign because more than anything else rhythm and harmony find their way to the innermost soul and take strongest hold upon it.

He who can properly define and divide is to be considered a god.

There should be no element of slavery in learning. Enforced exercise does no harm to the body, but enforced learning will not stay in the mind. So avoid compulsion, and let your children's lessons take the form of play.

The good man is the only excellent musician, because he gives forth a perfect harmony not with a lyre or other instrument but with the whole of his life.

For the object of education is to teach us to love beauty.

That which is apprehended by intelligence and reason is always in the same state; but that which is conceived by opinion with the help of sensation and without reason, is always in a process of becoming and perishing and never really is.

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

To begin is the most important part of any quest and by far the most courageous.

Every serious man in dealing with really serious subjects carefully avoids writing. ... There does not exist, nor will there ever exist, any writing of mine dealing with this subject.

But at three, four, five, and even six years the childish nature will require sports; now is the time to get rid of self-will in him, punishing him, but not so as to disgrace him.

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.

But I have no time for such things; and the reason, my friend, is this. I am still unable, as the Delphic inscription orders, to know myself; and it really seems to be ridiculous to look into other things before I have understood that.

Poets do not compose their poems with knowledge, but by some inborn talent and by inspiration, like seers and prophets who also say many fine things without any understanding of what they say.

We ought to live sacrificing, and singing, and dancing.

My plainness of speech makes people hate me, and what is their hatred but a proof that I am speaking the truth.

Justice is useful when money is useless.

Wisest is he who knows what he does not know.

No reproach for a person willing to give honorable service in the passion to become wise.

Watch a man at play for an hour and you can learn more about him than in talking to him for a year.

Herein is the evil of ignorance , that he who is neither good nor wise is nevertheless satisfied with himself : he has no desire for that of which he feels no want .

And the true order of going, or being led by another, to the things of love, is to begin from the beauties of earth.

The true champion of justice, if he intends to survive even for a short time, must necessarily confine himself to private life and leave politics alone.

When you swear, swear seriously and solemnly, but at the same time with a smile, for a smile is the twin sister of seriousness.

Those having torches will pass them on to others.

When two friends are in the mood to chat, we have to go about it in a gentler and more dialectical way. By 'more dialectical,' I mean not only that we give real responses, but that we base our responses solely on what the interlocutor admits that he himself knows.

The three wishes of every man: to be healthy, to be rich by honest means, and to be beautiful.