Plato Quotes - Page 2

let the speaker speak truly and the judge decide justly.

Then the lover, who is true and no counterfeit, must of necessity be loved by his love.

Ideas are the source of all things

Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous.

The philosopher whose dealings are with divine order himself acquires the characteristics of order and divinity.

O dear Pan and all the other gods of this place, grant that I may be beautiful inside. Let all my external possessions be in friendly harmony with what is within. May I consider the wise man rich. As for gold, let me have as much as a moderate man could bear and carry with him.

Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul.

To conquer oneself is the best and noblest victory; to be vanquished by one's own nature is the worst and most ignoble defeat.

Piety, then, is that which is dear to the gods, and impiety is that which is not dear to them.

....I am inclined to think that these muscles and bones of mine would have gone off long ago to Megara or Boeotia - by the dog they would, if they had been moved only by their own idea of what was best.

(tr Jowett)

Socrates: This man, on one hand, believes that he knows something, while not knowing [anything]. On the other hand, I – equally ignorant – do not believe [that I know anything].

Wise men talk because they have something to say; Fools, because they have to say something.

I thought to myself: I am wiser than this man; neither of us probably knows anything that is really good, but he thinks he has knowledge, when he has not, while I, having no knowledge, do not think I have.

The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depends upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation, the man of manly character and of wisdom.

For to fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise without really being wise, for it is to think that we know what we do not know. For no one knows whether death may not be the greatest good that can happen to man.

He was a wise man who invented God.

You take the words in the sense which is most damaging to the argument.

Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.

Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.

Poets utter great and wise things which they do not themselves understand.