Plato: Trending quotes

“Love sees no enemies…fear does.”

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

“The greatest and noblest conceptions have no image wrought plainly for human vision, which he who wishes to satisfy the mind of the inquirer can apply to some one of his senses and by mere exhibition satisfy the mind. We must therefore endeavor by practice to acquire the power of giving and understanding a rational definition of each one of them; for immaterial things, which are the noblest and greatest, can be exhibited by reason only, and it is for their sake that all we are saying is said. But it is always easier to practice in small matters than in greater ones.”

“Doing what is for the good of the people, this must be the truest criterion of right government, in accordance with which the wise and good man will govern the affairs of his subjects. Just as the captain of a ship keeps watch for what is at any moment for the good of the vessel and the sailors, not by writing rules, but by making his science his law, and thus preserves his fellow voyagers, so may not a right government be established in the same way by men who could rule by this principle, making science more powerful than the laws? And whatever the wise rulers do, they can commit no error, so long as they maintain one great principle and by always dispensing absolute justice to them with wisdom and science are able to preserve the citizens and make them better than they were, so far as that is possible.”

“He who steals a little steals with the same wish as he who steals much, but with less power.”

“Good people do not need law to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.”

“I do see one large and grievous kind of ignorance, separate from the rest, and as weighty as all the other parts put together. Thinking that one knows a thing when one does not know it. Through this, I believe, all the mistakes of the mind are caused in all of us.”

“No man of sense can put himself and his soul under the control of names... You must consider courageously and thoroughly and not accept anything carelessly.”

“Perception and knowledge could never be the same.”

“Magic consists of, and is acquired by the worship of the gods.”

“Knowledge without justice ought to be called cunning rather than wisdom.”

“There are three classes of men; lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain.”

“Cunning... is but the low mimic of wisdom.”

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

“A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.”

“Wisdom alone is the science of other sciences.”

“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they would like to say something. As empty vessels make the loudest sounds, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”

“Beauty is the splendor of truth.”

“Love is a serious mental disease. ”