50 Brilliant Quotes by Plato
Plato was an Ancient Greek philosopher who was the student of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle. He founded the Platonist school of thoughts and the Academy in Athens, one of the first institutions of higher learning in Western world. Plato was best known as the author of philosophical work of unparalleled influence with a focus on aesthetics, cosmology, epistemology, philosophy of language, political philosophy, and theology. Plato’s impact on philosophy gave reason to develop a more just society that focused on the equality of the individuals that became the foundation of modern democracy. Today we look at our top selection of Quotes by Plato from his readings.
Quotes by Plato
“You cannot conceive the many without the one.”
Quotes by Plato – Parmenides, 166
“Everything that deceives may be said to enchant.”
Republic, III, 413-C
“Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable.”
Theaetetus
“Must not all things at the last be swallowed up in death?”
Phaedo, 72
“The beginning is the most important part of the work.”
Quotes by Plato – Republic, I, 377-B
“Must not all things at the last be swallowed up in death?”
Phaedo, 72
“We are imprisoned in the body, like an oyster to his shell.”
In: Great Books of the Western World (Volume 7), Phaedrus
“Even God is said to be unable to use force against necessity.”
Wit and Wisdom of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle (ed. 1967)
“No one is a friend to his friend who does not love in return.”
Quotes by Plato – Dialogues of Plato (ed. 1898)
“The first step in learning is the destruction of human conceit.”
The Dialogues of Plato (ed. Random House Inc, 1937)
“He who can properly define and divide is to be considered a god.”
In: Francis Bacon – Novum Organum – Second Book, Section 26 (p. 157), Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. 1952
“No one is so cowardly that Love could not inspire him to heroism.”
Symposium: The Benjamin Jowett Translation (ed. 1996)
“I am not given to finding fault, for there are innumerable fools.”
Dialogues of Plato: Containing The Apology of Socrates, Crito, Phaedo, and Protagoras (ed. 1899)
“Can we deny that a warrior should have a knowledge of arithmetic?”
In: Great Books of the Western World (Volume 7), The Republic
“Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul”
Wit and Wisdom of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle (ed. 1967)
“I shall never alter my ways, not even if I have to die many times.”
The Dialogues of Plato (ed. 1871)
“This universe is called Cosmos, or order, not disorder or misrule.”
Quotes by Plato – In: Great Books of the Western World (Volume 7), Gorgias
“For what should a man live, if not for the pleasures of discourse?”
Phaedrus 258e, translated by Benjamin Jowett
“Every soul pursues the good and does whatever it does for its sake.”
Republic (Grube Edition): (ed. Hackett Publishing, 1992) – ISBN: 9780872201361
“The true creator is necessity, who is the mother of our invention.”
The Republic
“All who do evil and dishonorable things do them against their will.”
Dialogues of Plato: Containing The Apology of Socrates, Crito, Phaedo, and Protagoras (ed. 1899)
“The tools which would teach men their own use would be beyond price.”
The works of Plato (ed. 1937)
“The highest reach of injustice is to be deemed just when you are not.”
The Dialogues of Plato (ed. 1873)
“Any man may easily do harm, but not every man can do good to another.”
Laws. Appendix: Lesser Hippias. First Alcibiades. Menexenus. Index of persons and places (ed. 1871)
“The power of the Good has taken refuge in the nature of the Beautiful”
Quotes by Plato: With an English Translation (ed. 1925)
“I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning.”
Republic, VII, 531-E
“The wise man will want to be ever with him who is better than himself.”
The deathday of Socrates: living, dying and immortality–the theater of ideas in Plato’s Phaedo (ed. 1981)
“I do not think it is permitted that a better man be harmed by a worse.”
Complete Works (ed. Hackett Publishing, 1997) – ISBN: 9781603846721
“They ought to be gentle to their friends and dangerous to their enemies.”
Quotes by Plato – The Dialogues of Plato (ed. 1873)
“Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.”
155, The Dialogues of Plato, Volume 3, 1871, p. 377 – Theaetetus
“Prefer diligence before idleness, unless you esteem rust above brightness.”
Wit and Wisdom of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle (ed. 1967)
“As the builders say, the larger stones do not lie well without the lesser.”
The Dialogues of Plato (ed. 1871)
“The true runner comes to the finish and receives the prize and is crowned.”
The Dialogues of Plato (ed. 1873)
“Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on Simplicity.”
The dialogues of Plato (ed. 1952)
“If the head and the body are to be well, you must begin by curing the soul.”
Dialogues of Plato (ed. 1899)
“That man is wisest who, like Socrates, realizes that his wisdom is worthless”
Wit and Wisdom of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle (ed. 1967)
“Geometry will draw the soul toward truth and create the spirit of philosophy.”
The Republic of Plato: An Ideal Commonwealth (ed. 1901)
“There is far greater peril in buying knowledge than in buying meat and drink.”
The Dialogues of Plato (ed. 1871)
“The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life.”
Republic, IV, 425-B
“The cause of all sins in every case lies in the person’s excessive love of self.”
Plato: The laws.1961. (2 v.) (ed. 1961)
Great Quotes. Good to see you writing again! ❤️
Thank you Cindy !
You’re so welcome. I always love your quotes! ❤️