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.

Democracy does not contain any force which will check the constant tendency to put more and more on the public payroll. The state is like a hive of bees in which the drones display, multiply and starve the workers so the idlers will consume the food and the workers will perish.

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

Wise men speak because they have something to say

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.

And we have made of ourselves living cesspools, and driven doctors to invent names for our diseases.

You need some knowledge to recognize knowledge, so where does the first knowledge come from?