Plato Quotes

virtue does not spring from riches, but riches and all other human blessings, both private and public, from virtue.

~ Plato

this is the greatest good to man, to discourse daily on virtue, and other things which you have heard me discussing, examining both myself and others

~ Plato

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.

~ Plato

The perfect state is one where men weep and rejoice over the same things.

~ Plato

Imagine that the keeper of a huge, strong beast notices what makes it angry, what it desires, how it has to be approached and handled, the circumstances and the conditions under which it becomes particularly fierce or calm, what provokes its typical cries, and what tones of voice make it gentle or wild. Once he's spent enough time in the creature's company to acquire all this information, he calls it knowledge, forms it into a systematic branch of expertise, and starts to teach it, despite total ignorance, in fact, about which of the creature's attitudes and desires is commendable or deplorable, good or bad, moral or immoral. His usage of all these terms simply conforms to the great beast's attitudes, and he describes things as good or bad according to its likes and dislikes, and can't justify his usage of the terms any further, but describes as right and good the things which are merely indispensable, since he hasn't realised and can't explain to anyone else how vast a gulf there is between necessity and goodness.

~ Plato

Nor when love is of this disinterested sort is there any disgrace in being deceived, but in every other case there is equal disgrace in being or not being deceived. For he who is gracious to his lover under the impression that he is rich, and is disappointed of his gains because he turns out to be poor, is disgraced all the same: for he has done his best to show that he would give himself up to any one's uses base for the sake of money; but this is not honourable. And on the same principle he who gives himself to a lover because he is a good man, and in the hope that he will be improved by his company, shows himself to be virtuous, even though the object of his affection turn out to be a villain, and to have no virtue; and if he is deceived he has committed a noble error. For he has proved that for his part he will do anything for anybody with a view to virtue and improvement, than which there can be nothing nobler.

~ Plato

Men of Athens, I honor and I love you, but I will obey the god rather than you and as long as I draw breath and am able, I shall not cease to practice philosophy, to exhort you and in my usual way to point out to any one of you whom I happen to meet.

~ Plato

For many generations…they obeyed the laws and loved the divine to which they were akin…they reckoned that qualities of character were far more important than their present prosperity. So they bore the burden of their wealth and possessions lightly, and did not let their high standard of living intoxicate them or make them lose their self-control…But when the divine element in them became weakened…and their human traits became predominant, they ceased to be able to carry their prosperity with moderation.

~ Plato

Wars and revolutions and battles, you see, are due simply and solely to the body and its desires. All wars are undertaken for the acquisition of wealth; and the reason why we have to acquire wealth is the body, because we are slaves in its service.

~ Plato

for the best possible state of your soul, as I say to you: Wealth does not bring about excellence, but excellence makes wealth and everything else good for men, both individually and collectively.

~ Plato

For once touched by love, everyone becomes a poet

~ Plato

no man will survive who genuinely opposes you or any other crowd and prevents the occurrence of many unjust and illegal happenings in the city. A man who really fights for justice must lead a private, not a public, life if he is to survive for even a short time

~ Plato

Justice is useful when money is useless.

~ Plato

Nothing could be more important than that the work of a soldier is well done. No tools will make a man a skilled workmen, or master of defense, or be of any use to him who has not learned how to handle them and has never bestowed any attention on them.

~ Plato

It is only just that anything that grows up on its own should feel it has nothing to repay for an upbringing which it owes no one.

~ Plato

Many are the noble words in which poets speak concerning the actions of men; but like yourself when speaking about Homer, they do not speak of them by any rules of art: they are simply inspired to utter that to which the Muse impels them, and that only; and when inspired, one of them will make dithyrambs, another hymns of praise, another choral strains, another epic or iambic verses- and he who is good at one is not good any other kind of verse: for not by art does the poet sing, but by power divine.

~ Plato

the matter is as it is in all other cases: if it is naturally in you to be a good orator, a notable orator you will be when you have acquired knowledge and practice ...

~ Plato

Caring about the happiness of others, we find our own.

~ Plato

There is truth in wine and children

~ Plato

I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.

~ Plato

The spiritual eyesight improves as the physical eyesight declines.

~ Plato

Of all animals the boy is the most unmanageable.

~ Plato

Boys should abstain from all use of wine until their eighteenth year for it is wrong to add fire to fire.

~ Plato

To be is to do.

~ Plato

Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

~ Plato

Time is the moving image of eternity.

~ Plato

The life which is unexamined is not worth living.

~ Plato

The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depend upon himself and not upon other men has adopted the very best plan for living happily.

~ Plato

Life must be lived as play, playing certain games, making sacrifices, singing and dancing, and then a man will be able to propitiate the gods, and defend himself against his enemies, and win in the contest.

~ Plato

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

~ Plato

Thinking: the talking of the soul with itself.

~ Plato

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.

~ Plato

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

~ Plato

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

~ Plato

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.

~ Plato

The god of love lives in a state of need. It is a need. It is an urge. It is a homeostatic imbalance. Like hunger and thirst, it's almost impossible to stamp out.

~ Plato

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

~ Plato

For good nurture and education implant good constitutions.

~ Plato

The beginning is the most important part of the work.

~ Plato

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.

~ Plato