Plato Quotes

A delightful form of government, anarchic and motley, assigning a kind of equality indiscriminately to equals and unequals alike!

Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable, inasmuch as he has the fountain of reason in him not yet regulated.

It behooves those who take the young to task to leave them room for excuse, lest they drive them to be hardened by too much rebuke.

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

From a short-sided view, the whole moving contents of the heavens seemed to them a parcel of stones, earth and other soul-less bodies, though they furnish the sources of the world order.

The best stomachs are not those which reject all foods.

God is a geometrician.

It is as expedient that a wicked man be punished as that a sick man be cured by a physician; for all chastisement is a kind of medicine.

Can any man be courageous who has the fear of death in him?

Between knowledge of what really exists and ignorance of what does not exist lies the domain of opinion. It is more obscure than knowledge, but clearer than ignorance.

Music is moral law. It is the essence of order and leads to all that is good, true and beautiful.

Conversion is not implanting eyes, for they exist already; but giving them a right direction, which they have not

The mere athlete becomes too much of a savage.

The productions of all arts are kinds of poetry and their craftsmen are all poets.

The gods' service is tolerable, man's intolerable.

Our need will be the real creator.

Equals, the proverb goes, delight in equals.

There is no other start to philosophy but wonder.

Much more wretched than lackof health inthe body, it is to dwell with a soul that is not healthy, but corrupt.

He who advises a sick man, whose manner of life is prejudicial to health, is clearly bound first of all to change his patient's manner of life.

The wisest of you men is he who has realized, like Socrates, that in respect of wisdom he is really worthless.

Health is a consumation of a love affair of all the organs of the body.

The physician, to the extent he is a physician, considers only the good of the patient in what he prescribes, and his own not at all

In the world of knowledge, the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with effort.

May not the wolf, as the proverb says, claim a hearing?

Fields and trees are not willing to teach me anything; but this can be effected by men residing in the city.

Music is that which takes silence and brings it to life.

for a poet is a light and winged thing, and holy, and never able to compose until he has become inspired, and is beside himself, and reason is no longer in him.

In a democracy only will the freeman of nature design to dwell.

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

Upon consideration of the central question of the moon's toughness there can be little doubt. It is hella tough.

So the well educated man can learn to sing and dance well.

As wolves love lambs so lovers love their loves.

For when there are no words, it is very difficult to recognize the meaning of the harmony and rhythm, or to see any worldly object is imitated by them.

It is fear and terror that make all men brave, except the philosophers. Yet it is illogical to be brave through fear and cowardice.

If there is no contradictory impression, there is nothing to awaken reflection

A written discourse on any subject is bound to contain much that is fanciful.

What a poor appearance the tales of poets make when stripped of the colours which music puts upon them, and recited in simple prose.

The qualities of number appear to lead to the apprehension of truth.

Great parts produce great vices as well as virtues.

Not one of them who took up in his youth with this opinion that there are no gods ever continued until old age faithful to his conviction.

A certain portion of mankind do not believe at all in the existence of the gods.

The elements of instruction should be presented to the mind in childhood, but not with any compulsion.

Every unjust man is unjust against his will.

Any peace is better than any war

Virtue is the desire of things honourable and the power of attaining them.

The beginning is the chiefest part of any work.

May I deem the wise man rich, and may I have such a portion of gold as none but a prudent man can either bear or employ.

The ludicrous state of solid geometry made me pass over this branch.

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