Plato Quotes
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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.
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What a handsome face he had: but if he were naked you would forget he had a face, he is so beautiful in every way.
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The democratic youth lives along day by day, gratifying the desire that occurs to him, at one time drinking and listening to the flute, at another downing water and reducing, now practicing gymnastic, and again idling and neglecting everything; and sometimes spending his time as though he were occupied in philosophy.
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For neither does wealth bring honour to the owner, if he be a coward; of such a one the wealth belongs to another, and not to himself. Nor does beauty and strength of body, when dwelling in a base and cowardly man, appear comely, but the reverse of comely, making the possessor more conspicuous, and manifesting forth his cowardice.
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Hereditary honors are a noble and a splendid treasure to descendants.
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No one should be discouraged, Theaetetus, who can make constant progress, even though it be slow.
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The love, more especially, which is concerned with the good, and which is perfected in company with temperance and justice, whether among gods or men, has the greatest power, and is the source of all our happiness and harmony, and makes us friends with the gods who are above us, and with one another.
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Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds.
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The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile.
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From all wild beasts, a child is the most difficult to handle.
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Access to power must be confined to those who are not in love with it.
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He who love touches walks not in darkness.
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Grant that I may become beautiful in my soul within, and that all my external possessions may be in harmony with my inner self. May I consider the wise to be rich, and may I have such riches as only a person of self-restraint can bear or endure.
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Great is the issue at stake, greater than appears, whether a man is to be good or bad. And what will any one be profited if, under the influence of money or power, he neglect justice and virtue?
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I was stupid enough to think that we ought to speak the truth about each person eulogised, and to make this the foundation, and from these truths to choose the most beautiful things and arrange them in the most elegant way; and I was quite proud to think how well I should speak, because I believed that I knew the truth.
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The tools which would teach men their own use would be beyond price.
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The good are like one another, and friends to one another; and ... the bad, as is often said of them, are never at unity with one another or with themselves, but are passionate and restless: and that which is at variance and enmity with itself is not likely to be in union or harmony with any other thing.
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In a democracy only will the freeman of nature design to dwell.
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But this is not difficult, O Athenians! to escape death; but it is much more difficult to avoid depravity, for it runs swifter than death. And now I, being slow and aged, am overtaken by the slower of the two; but my accusers, being strong and active, have been overtaken by the swifter, wickedness. And now I depart, condemned by you to death; but they condemned by truth, as guilty of iniquity and injustice: and I abide my sentence, and so do they. These things, perhaps, ought so to be, and I think that they are for the best.
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Love is the pursuit of the whole.
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Wisdom always makes men fortunate: for by wisdom no man could ever err, and therefore he must act rightly and succeed, or his wisdom would be wisdom no longer.
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For this feeling of wonder shows that you are a philosopher, since wonder is the only beginning of philosophy.
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He who steals a little steals with the same wish as he who steals much, but with less power.
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The deity on purpose [sings] the liveliest of all lyrics through the most miserable poet.