Plato Quotes

I take it that our state, having been founded and built up on the right lines, is good in the complete sense of the word.

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

If the head and the body are to be well, you must begin by curing the soul.

Knowledge of the soul is the only universal truth and the only wisdom - all other knowledge is transient.

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

To be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile.

It is proper for every one to consider, in the case of all men, that he who has not been a servant cannot become a praiseworthy master; and it is meet that we should plume ourselves rather on acting the part of a servant properly than that of the master, first, towards the laws, (for in this way we are servants of the gods), and next, towards our elders.

Athenian men, I respect and love you, but I shall obey the god rather than you.

It is right to give every man his due.

He whom Love touches not walks in darkness.

Pleasure is the greatest incentive to evil.

In the world of knowledge, the essential Form of Good is the limit of our inquiries, and can barely be perceived; but, when perceived, we cannot help concluding that it is in every case the source of all that is bright and beautiful -in the visible world giving birth to light and its master, and in the intellectual world dispensing, immediately and with full authority, truth and reason -and that whosoever would act wisely, either in private or in public, must set this Form of Good before his eyes.

A person who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he or she ought only to consider whether in doing anything he or she is doing right or wrong- acting the part of a good person or a bad person.

When there is crime in society, there is no justice.

The prisoner grows to love his chains.

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

[M]ere knowledge of the truth will not give you the art of persuasion.

The State which we have founded must possess the four cardinal virtues of wisdom, courage, discipline and justice ... Justice is the principle which has in fact been followed throughout, the principle of one man one job, of minding one s own business , in the sense of doing the job for which one is naturally fitted and not interfering with other people.

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

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

The power of the Good has taken refuge in the nature of the Beautiful

A fit of laughter, which has been indulged to excess, almost always produces a violent reaction.

All loves should be simply stepping stones to the love of God. So it was with me; and blessed be his name for his great goodness and mercy.

Knowledge is true opinion.

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

What then is the right way to live? Life should be lived as play.

Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.

All I would ask you to be thinking of is the truth and not Socrates.

Wisdom alone is the science of others sciences.

I prefer nothing, unless it is true.

We are too feeble and sluggish to make our way out to the upper limit of the air. If someone could reach the summit, or put on wings and fly aloft, when he put up his head he would see the world above, just as fishes see our world when they put up their heads out of the sea; and if his nature were able to bear the sight, he would recognize that that is the true heaven.

Necessity, who is the mother of our invention.

Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.

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.

The mortal nature is seeking as far as is possible to be everlasting and immortal: and this is only to be attained by generation, because the new is always left in the place of the old.

To the rulers of the state then, if to any, it belongs of right to use falsehood, to deceive either enemies or their own citizens, for the good of the state: and no one else may meddle with this privilege.

When you feel grateful, you become great, and eventually attract great things.

Love is of something, and that which love desires is not that which love is or has; for no man desires that which he is or has. And love is of the beautiful, and therefore has not the beautiful. And the beautiful is the good, and therefore, in wanting and desiring the beautiful, love also wants and desires the good.

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.

Wonder is the beginning of the desire to know the beautiful and the good.

They would be subject to no one, neither to lawful ruler nor to the reign of law, but would be altogether and absolutely free. That is the way they got their tyrants, for either servitude or freedom, when it goes to extremes, is an utter bane, while either in due measure is altogether a boon.

Being well satisfied that, for a man who thinks himself to be somebody, there is nothing more disgraceful than to hold himself up as honored, not on his own account, but for the sake of his forefathers. Yet hereditary honors are a noble and splendid treasure to descendants.

The soul should concentrate itself by itself.

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?

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.

Where love reigns, there's no need for laws.

...that in our state one man was to do one job, and the job he was naturally most suited for .. And further, we have often heard and often said that justice consists of minding your own business and not interfering with other people.

Music is to the mind as air is to the body.