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Plato

97 quotes

Plato (circa 428–348 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. A student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle, Plato's dialogues exploring justice, beauty, equality, and knowledge have shaped Western thought for over two millennia.

“The good is the beautiful.”

— Plato

Good

All Quotes by Plato

“Wise men speak because they have something to say Fools because they have to say something.”

— Plato

Men

“Democracy... is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.”

— Plato

Equality

“I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict.”

— Plato

Great

“And what, Socrates, is the food of the soul? Surely, I said, knowledge is the food of the soul.”

— Plato

Food

“Better a little which is well done, than a great deal imperfectly.”

— Plato

Great

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”

— Plato

Politics

“Science is nothing but perception.”

— Plato

Science

“Truth is the beginning of every good to the gods, and of every good to man.”

— Plato

Good

“Our object in the construction of the state is the greatest happiness of the whole, and not that of any one class.”

— Plato

Happiness

“Knowledge is true opinion.”

— Plato

Knowledge

“Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.”

— Plato

Knowledge

“We ought to fly away from earth to heaven as quickly as we can and to fly away is to become like God, as far as this is possible and to become like him is to become holy, just, and wise.”

— Plato

God

“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

Good

“He who is of calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden.”

— Plato

Age

“The greatest wealth is to live content with little.”

— Plato

Great

“States are as the men, they grow out of human characters.”

— Plato

Men

“Twice and thrice over, as they say, good is it to repeat and review what is good.”

— Plato

Good

“Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.”

— Plato

Knowledge

“Thinking: the talking of the soul with itself.”

— Plato

Inspirational

“No man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nature and education.”

— Plato

Education