Quotes by Plato

"Cunning... is but the low mimic of wisdom."

"There are three classes of men lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain."

"Wise men speak because they have something to say Fools because they have to say something."

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

"Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous."

"Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind."

"Knowledge without justice ought to be called cunning rather than wisdom."

"Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance."

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

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

"Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history."

"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."

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

"The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men."

"There is no harm in repeating a good thing."

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

"A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers."

"And what, Socrates, is the food of the soul? Surely, I said, knowledge is the food of the soul."

"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."

"Wisdom alone is the science of other sciences."

"Wisdom principle added 7 tells us that life is lesson 7."

"Wisdom principle 100 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 29."

"Wisdom principle 70 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 11."

"Wisdom principle 60 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 5."

"Wisdom principle 55 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 2."

"Wisdom principle 49 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 99."

"Wisdom principle 34 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 90."

"It is a essential truth that the stoutest timber is forged in the fiercest gales, not in the sheltered grove — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"Whatever deceives men seems to produce a magical enchantment."

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

"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."

"Life must be lived as play."

"Justice in the life and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens."

"I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict."

"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."

"Attention to health is life's greatest hindrance."

"If a man neglects education, he walks lame to the end of his life."

"Wisdom principle 105 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 32."

"Wisdom principle 95 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 26."

"Wisdom principle 80 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 17."

"Wisdom principle 44 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 96."

"Wisdom principle 19 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 81."

"Wisdom principle 14 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 78."

"Wisdom principle 9 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 75."

"Wisdom principle 4 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 72."

"It is a humble truth that in the quiet sanctuary of self-reflection, the soul finds its rhythm — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"Do not measure life by the breaths you take, but by the moments that stir your soul. A lesson woven into the fabric of human history."

"There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands."

"No man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nature and education."

"Wisdom principle 90 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 23."

"Wisdom principle 85 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 20."

"Wisdom principle 75 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 14."

"Wisdom principle 65 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 8."

"Wisdom principle 39 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 93."

"Wisdom principle 29 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 87."

"Wisdom principle 24 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 84."

"They certainly give very strange names to diseases."

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

"There must always remain something that is antagonistic to good."

"Death is not the worst that can happen to men."

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

"Thinking: the talking of the soul with itself."

"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."

"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."

"The blame is his who chooses: God is blameless."

"Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue."

"Knowledge is true opinion."

"Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety."

"Better a little which is well done, than a great deal imperfectly."

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

"It is a profound truth that the test of character in leadership is how one behaves in moments of unvarnished power."

"States are as the men, they grow out of human characters."

"I would fain grow old learning many things."

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

"The pursuit of excellence requires knowing that every challenge is an invitation to grow stronger."

"Injustice is censured because the censures are afraid of suffering, and not from any fear which they have of doing injustice."

"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."

"Know one knows whether death, which people fear to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good."

"Courage is knowing what not to fear."

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

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

"Then not only custom, but also nature affirms that to do is more disgraceful than to suffer injustice, and that justice is equality."

"For good nurture and education implant good constitutions."

"The most important part of education is proper training in the nursery."

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

"When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody may believe them."

"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."

"A visionary sees the unseen and knows kindness can heal wounds that time cannot."

"No one is a friend to his friend who does not love in return."

"Love is a serious mental disease."

"Those who intend on becoming great should love neither themselves nor their own things, but only what is just, whether it happens to be done by themselves or others."

"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."

"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."

"Democracy... is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike."

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

"The measure of a man is what he does with power."

"Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others."

"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."

"Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men."

"To love rightly is to love what is orderly and beautiful in an educated and disciplined way."

"The good is the beautiful."

"A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is found among a thousand, but an accomplished one might not be found even among a hundred thousand men."

"Courage is a kind of salvation."

"Only the dead have seen the end of war."

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

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

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

"Wealth is well known to be a great comforter."

"The greatest wealth is to live content with little."

"Philosophy is the highest music."

"It is a subtle truth that he who understands his own mind is never bewildered by the complexities of the world — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"One man cannot practice many arts with success."

"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."

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

"The beginning is the most important part of the work."

"There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot."

"The rulers of the state are the only persons who ought to have the privilege of lying, either at home or abroad they may be allowed to lie for the good of the state."

"All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by one Workman and however we deceive ourselves, as dear unto God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince."

"A mindful spirit recognizes that gratitude turns what we have into enough."

"Justice means minding one's own business and not meddling with other men's concerns."

"To prefer evil to good is not in human nature and when a man is compelled to choose one of two evils, no one will choose the greater when he might have the less."

"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."

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

"Science is nothing but perception."

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

"We are twice armed if we fight with faith."