Plato. Quotes

Time on its back bears all things far away - Full many a challenge is wrought by many a day - Shape, fortune, name, and nature all decay

As it is, lovers of inquiry must follow their beloved wherever it may lead.

And what do you say of lovers of wine... they are glad of any pretext of drinking any wine

The point which I should first wish to understand is whether the pious or holy is beloved by the gods because it is holy, or holy because it is beloved of the gods.

It is beautiful to wish to add another's light to your own.

If you ask: What is the good of education? The answer is easy: Education makes good men and good men act nobly.

The deity on purpose [sings] the liveliest of all lyrics through the most miserable poet.

For our discussion is on no trifling matter, but on the right way to conduct our lives.

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

So their combinations with themselves and with each other give rise to endless complexities, which anyone who is to give a likely account of reality must survey.

All I would ask you to be thinking of is the truth and not Socrates.

What essence is to generation, that truth is to belief.

Everything that deceives does so by casting a spell.

There is yet something remaining for the dead, and some far better thing for the good than for the evil.

Truthfulness. He will never willingly tolerate an untruth, but will hate it as much as he loves truth... And is there anything more closely connected with wisdom than truth?

Is virtue something that can be taught?

The like is not the friend of the like in as far as he is like; still the good may be the friend of the good in as far as he is good.

Our greatest blessings come to us by way of madness, provided the madness is given us by divine gift.

I'm tired of defending my character. I am what I am. What you see is what you get.

Are these things good for any other reason except that they end in pleasure, and get rid of and avert pain? Are you looking to any other standard but pleasure and pain when you call them good?

A good man cannot be harmed either in life or in death, and his affairs are not neglected by the gods.

Wealth does not bring excellence, but that wealth comes from excellence.

When a person supposes that he knows, and does not know; this appears to be the great source of all the errors of the intellect.

Arguments, like men, are often pretenders.

Do thine own work, and know thyself.

For a poet is an airy thing, winged and holy, and he is not able to make poetry until he becomes inspired and goes out of his mind and his intellect is no longer in him.

Let no one ignorant of Mathematics enter here.

Seven years of silent inquiry are needful for a man to learn the truth, but fourteen in order to learn how to make it known to his fellow-men.

Thinking is the soul speaking to itself.

As it is, the lover of inquiry must follow his beloved wherever it may lead him.

The good polis is made by the good person, his moral character intact, and the good polis, in turn, helps turn out good persons, their moral character intact.

If we don't understand our tools, then there is a danger we will become the tool of our tools. We think of ourselves as Google's customers, but really we're its products.

I have a Greek-American friend who named her daughter "Nike" and is often asked why she chose to name her offspring after a sneaker.

Plato dramatically puts the detachment of the philosopher from his time this way: to philosophize is to prepare to die.

What is it precisely, that they are doing when they are doing science. Are they refining their instruments for observation or discovering new aspects of reality?

This is the pedagogical paradox. The person and the teacher is required precisely because the knowledge itself is nontransferable from teacher to student.

Everybody makes excuses for themselves they wouldn't be prepared to make for other people.

How can those who possess all knowledge, which must include knowledge of life that is worth living, be interested in using knowledge only for the insignificant aim of making money?

The will to matter is at least as important as the will to believe.

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

I'm okay in my skin, you know... I'm okay with who I am.

I've got to be honest, there's no pleasure when you're working.

I'd hopefully work through all my issues with men first so then I'd be okay being with a woman.

I like to go with the energy because when you ignore it that's when you start doing things wrong.

I have been sober for the longest time. Oh, it's over a decade now. No joke.

People have an awful lot of problems that society has put on them and a lot to work through because of it.

All that money stuff was so strange; all it ever meant to me was freedom from worry. I'm happier now than I've ever been but I still wish I had that money.

With women and women, I think there's an understanding. Nobody knows what a woman feels or experiences but another woman. We are the nurturers, and there are times when we need to be nurtured.

I'm learning to play by the rules. I sort of hate to think of it that way, but that's how it is. I'm really learning to function out there and in such a way that I don't need to drink.

Everything changes and nothing remains still.