Plato Quotes

365 Sourced Quotes

I am about to die, and that is the hour in which men are gifted with prophetic power.

Plato
No man's nature is able to know what is best for the social state of man; or, knowing, always able to do what is best.

Plato
In one sense it is evident that the art of kingship does include the art of lawmaking. But the political ideal is not full authority for laws but rather full authority for a man who understands the art of kingship and has kingly ability.

Plato
And first he will see the shadows best, next the reflections of men and other objects in the water, and then the objects themselves, then he will gaze upon the light of the moon and the stars and the spangled heaven...Last of all he will be able to see the sun.

Plato
Remember our words, then, and whatever is your aim let virtue be the condition of the attainment of your aim, and know that without this all possessions and pursuits are dishonourable and evil.

Plato
For all good and evil, whether in the body or in human nature, originates... in the soul, and overflows from thence, as from the head into the eyes.

Plato
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.

Plato
Other people are likely not to be aware that those who pursue philosophy aright study nothing but dying and being dead. Now if this is true, it would be absurd to be eager for nothing but this all their lives, and then to be troubled when that came for which they had all along been eagerly practicing.

Plato
Geometry will draw the soul toward truth and create the spirit of philosophy.

Plato
They ought to be gentle to their friends and dangerous to their enemies.

Plato
Let early education be a sort of amusement; you will then be better able to find out the natural bent.

Plato
Serious things cannot be understood without laughable things, nor opposites at all without opposites.

Plato
In the early days of his power, he is full of smiles, and he salutes everyone whom he meets.

Plato
All the gold which is under or upon the earth is not enough to give in exchange for virtue.

Plato
Come then, and let us pass a leisure hour in storytelling, and our story shall be the education of our heroes.

Plato
All things will be produced in superior quantity and quality, and with greater ease, when each man works at a single occupation, in accordance with his natural gifts, and at the right moment, without meddling with anything else.

Plato
ATHENIAN STRANGER: They say that the greatest and fairest things are the work of nature and of chance, the lesser of art, which, receiving from nature the greater and primeval creations, molds and fashions all those lesser works which are generally termed artificial.

Plato
Since those who rule in the city do so because they own a lot, I suppose they're unwilling to enact laws to prevent young people who've had no discipline from spending and wasting their wealth, so that by making loans to them, secured by the young people's property, and then calling those loans in, they themselves become even richer and more honored.

Plato
Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils - no, nor the human race, as I believe - and then only will this our State have a possibility of life and behold the light of day.

Plato
True opinions are a fine thing and do all sorts of good so long as they stay in their place; but they will not stay long. They run away from a man's mind, so they are not worth much until you tether them by working out the reason. Once they are tied down, they become knowledge, and are stable.

Plato
And we must beg Homer and the other poets not to be angry if we strike out these and similar passages, not because they are unpoetical, or unattractive to the popular ear, but because the greater the poetical charm in them, the less are they meet for the ears of boys and men who are meant to be free, and who should fear slavery more than death.

Plato
Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island and several others, and over parts of the continent and, furthermore, the men of Atlantis had subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia. This vast power, gathered into one, endeavored to subdue at a blow our country and yours and the whole of the region within the straits, and then, Solon, your country shone forth, in the excellence of her virtue and strength, among all mankind.

Plato
Socrates: The shoemaker, for example, uses a square tool, and a circular tool, and other tools for cutting?

Plato
The natural function of the wing is to soar upwards and carry that which is heavy up to the place where dwells the race of gods. More than any other thing that pertains to the body it partakes of the nature of the divine.

Plato
All things are in fate, yet all things are not decreed by fate.

Plato