Plato Quotes
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Socrates: The disgrace begins when a man writes not well, but badly.Phaedrus: Clearly.Socrates: And what is well and what is badly-need we ask Lysias, or any other poet or orator, who ever wrote or will write either a political or any other work, in metre or out of metre, poet or prose writer, to teach us this?
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The more the pleasures of the body fade away, the greater to me is the pleasure and charm of conversation.
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He that lendeth to another in time of prosperity, shall never want help himself in the time of adversity.
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The souls of people, on their way to Earth-life, pass through a room full of lights; each takes a taper - often only a spark - to guide it in the dim country of this world. But some souls, by rare fortune, are detained longer - have time to grasp a handful of tapers, which they weave into a torch. These are the torch-bearers of humanity - its poets, seers and saints, who lead and lift the race out of darkness, toward the light. They are the law-givers and saviors, the light-bringers, way-showers and truth-tellers, and without them, humanity would lose its way in the dark.
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The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.
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Just as it would be madness to settle on medical treatment for the body of a person by taking an opinion poll of the neighbors, so it is irrational to prescribe for the body politic by polling the opinions of the people at large.
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They assembled together and dedicated these as the first-fruits of their love to Apollo in his Delphic temple, inscribing there those maxims which are on every tongue- 'know thyselP and 'Nothing overmuch.'
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My good friend, you are a citizen of Athens, a city which is very great and very famous for its wisdom and power - are you not ashamed of caring so much for the making of money and for fame and prestige, when you neither think nor care about wisdom and truth and the improvement of your soul?
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Better a good enemy than a bad friend.
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Just as bees make honey from thyme, the strongest and driest of herbs, so do the wise profit from the most difficult of experiences.
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Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.
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Democracy does not contain any force which will check the constant tendency to put more and more on the public payroll. The state is like a hive of bees in which the drones display, multiply and starve the workers so the idlers will consume the food and the workers will perish.
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'But surely "blind" is just how you would describe men who have no true knowledge of reality, and no clear standard in their mind to refer to, as a painter refers to his model, and which they can study closely before they start laying down rules about what is fair or right or good where they are needed, or maintaining, as Guardians, any rules that already exist.' 'Yes, blind is just about what they are'
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Every soul pursues the good and does whatever it does for its sake.
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Take charge of your thoughts. You can do what you will with them.
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Is what is moral commanded by God because it is moral, or is it moral because it is commanded by God?
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All I would ask you to be thinking of is the truth and not Socrates.
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If it is naturally in you to be a good orator, a notable orator you will be when you have acquired knowledge and practice.
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Attention to health is life greatest hindrance.
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Love' is the name for our pursuit of wholeness, for our desire to be complete.
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Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.
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Those who have knowledge are more confident than those who have no knowledge, and they are more confident after they have learned than before.
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We are like people looking for something they have in their hands all the time; we're looking in all directions except at the thing we want, which is probably why we haven't found it.
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God is not the author of all things, but of good only.