Plato Quotes

Ignorance of all things is an evil neither terrible nor excessive, nor yet the greatest of all; but great cleverness and much learning, if they be accompanied by a bad training, are a much greater misfortune.

He who is of 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 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.

Twice and thrice over, as they say, good is it to repeat and review what is good.

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

The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life.

All the gold which is under or upon the earth is not enough to give in exchange for virtue.

It is right to give every man his due.

Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence.

When 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.

Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy.

We ought to fly away from earth to heaven as quickly as we can; and to fly away is to become like God, as far as this is possible; and to become like him is to become holy, just, and wise.

Must not all things at the last be swallowed up in death?

There’s a victory, and defeat; the first and best of victories, the lowest and worst of defeats which each man gains or sustains at the hands not of another, but of himself.

A state arises, as I conceive, out of the needs of mankind; no one is self-sufficing, but all of us have many wants.

They certainly give very strange names to diseases.

The good is the beautiful.

Whatever deceives men seems to produce a magical enchantment.

Excess generally causes reaction, and produces a change in the opposite direction, whether it be in the seasons, or in individuals, or in governments.

How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?

As the builders say, the larger stones do not lie well without the lesser.

When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself.

No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death.

Entire 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.

Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous.

Apply yourself both now and in the next life. Without effort, you cannot be prosperous. Though the land be good, You cannot have an abundant crop without cultivation.

I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.

Philosophy is the highest music.

Man – a being in search of meaning.

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

The community which has neither poverty nor riches will always have the noblest principles.

All things will be produced in superior quantity and quality, and with greater ease, when each man works at a single occupation, in accordance with his natural gifts, and at the right moment, without meddling with anything else.

The learning and knowledge that we have, is, at the most, but little compared with that of which we are ignorant.

The 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.

It is clear to everyone that astronomy at all events compels the soul to look upwards, and draws it from the things of this world to the other.

To suffer the penalty of too much haste, which is too little speed.

He who is not a good servant will not be a good master.

The highest reach of injustice is to be deemed just when you are not.

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

Democracy passes into despotism.

He who steals a little steals with the same wish as he who steals much, but with less power.

Truth is the beginning of every good to the gods, and of every good to man.

Then not only an old man, but also a drunkard, becomes a second time a child.

Nothing can be more absurd than the practice that prevails in our country of men and women not following the same pursuits with all their strengths and with one mind, for thus, the state instead of being whole is reduced to half.

Cunning… is but the low mimic of wisdom.

For the introduction of a new kind of music must be shunned as imperiling the whole state; since styles of music are never disturbed without affecting the most important political institutions.

Wonder is the feeling of the philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.

No law or ordinance is mightier than understanding.

There is no such thing as a lovers‘ oath.

No one ever teaches well who wants to teach, or governs well who wants to govern.

Poets utter great and wise things which they do not themselves understand.

Wealth is well known to be a great comforter.

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

If particulars are to have meaning, there must be universals.

There must always remain something that is antagonistic to good.

Excess of liberty, whether it lies in state or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery.

It is a common saying, and in everybody’s mouth, that life is but a sojourn.

The blame is his who chooses: God is blameless.

The wisest have the most authority.

Knowledge is true opinion.