Plato Quotes
-
When I hear a man discoursing of virtue, or of any sort of wisdom, who is a true man and worthy of his theme, I am delighted beyond measure: and I compare the man and his words, and note the harmony and correspondence of them. And such an one I deem to be the true musician, having in himself a fairer harmony than that of the lyre.
-
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.
-
There is also a third kind of madness, which is possession by the Muses, enters into a delicate and virgin soul, and there inspiring frenzy, awakens lyric... But he, who, not being inspired and having no touch of madness in his soul, comes to the door and thinks he will get into the temple by the help of art - he, I say, and his poetry are not admitted; the sane man is nowhere at all when he enters into rivalry with the madman.
-
Honesty is for the most part less profitable than dishonesty.
-
If there were only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their beloved, they would be the very best governors of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour, and emulating one another in honour; and when fighting at each other's side, although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or throwing away his arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure this.
-
The mere athlete becomes too much of a savage.
-
No town can live peacefully whatever its laws when its citizens do nothing but feast and drink and tire themselves out in the cares of love.
-
Some thoughtlessly proclaim the Muses nine: A tenth is Sappho, maid divine.
-
I don't know anything that gives me greater pleasure, or profit either, than talking or listening to philosophy. But when it comes to ordinary conversation, such as the stuff you talk about financiers and the money market, well, I find it pretty tiresome personally, and I feel sorry that my friends should think they're being very busy when they're really doing absolutely nothing. Of course, I know your idea of me: you think I'm just a poor unfortunate, and I shouldn't wonder if your right. But then I dont THINK that you're unfortunate - I know you are.
-
I shall never alter my ways, not even if I have to die many times.
-
A delightful form of government, anarchic and motley, assigning a kind of equality indiscriminately to equals and unequals alike!
-
For the man who makes everything that leads to happiness, or near to it, to depend upon himself, and not upon other men, on whose good or evil actions his own doings are compelled to hinge,--such a one, I say, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation; this is the man of manly character and of wisdom.
-
The Dance, of all the arts, is the one that most influences the soul. Dancing is divine in its nature and is the gift of God.
-
Arithmetic is a kind of knowledge in which the best natures should be trained, and which must not be given up.
-
Numbers are the highest degree of knowledge. It is knowledge itself.
-
The first step in learning is the destruction of human conceit.
-
Know one knows whether death, which people fear to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good.
-
We must now examine whether just people also live better and are happier than unjust ones. I think it's clear already that this is so, but we must look into it further, since the argument concerns no ordinary topic, but the way we ought to live.
-
They (the poets) are to us in a manner the fathers and authors of the wisdom.
-
When man is not properly trained, he is the most savage animal on the face of the globe.
-
The bees can abide no drones amongst them; but as soon as they begin to be idle, they kill them.
-
Those who refuse to engage in politics will be led by their inferiors.
-
For the poet is a light winged and holy thing, and there is no invention in him until he has been inspired and is out of his senses and the mind is no longer with him. When he has not attained this state he is powerless and unable to utter his oracles.
-
Those who are not schooled and practised in truth [who are not honest and upright men] can never manage aright the government, nor yet can those who spend their lives as closet philosophers; because the former have no high purpose to guide their actions, while the latter keep aloof from public life.