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.

If one has made a mistake, and fails to correct it, one has made a greater mistake.

Their military training will ensure success in war, but they must maintain unity by not allowing the state to grow to large, and by ensuring that the measures for promotion and demotion from one class to another are carried out. Above all they must maintain the educational system unchanged; for on education everything else depends, and it is an illusion to imagine that mere legislation without it can effect anything of consequence.

If we are to have any hope for the future, those who have lanterns must pass them on to others.

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 good are not willing to rule either for the sake of money or of honor.

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