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

—  Plato

Last update Sept. 29, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "He who steals a little steals with the same wish as he who steals much, but with less power." by Plato?
Plato photo
Plato 80
Classical Greek philosopher -427–-347 BC

Related quotes

Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo

“For wishes are effectual but by will,
And that too much is impotent and void
In frail humanity; and time steals by
Sinful and wavering, and unredeem’d.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

A Summer Evening’s Tale
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)

Wendell Phillips photo

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty — power is ever stealing from the many to the few….”

Wendell Phillips (1811–1884) American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator and lawyer

Speech in Boston, Massachusetts (28 January 1852), Speeches Before the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society (1853), p. 13. The memorable and oft-quoted phrase, "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," was not in quotation marks in the printed edition of this speech. The Home Book of Quotations, ed. Burton Stevenson, 9th ed., p. 1106 (1964), notes that "It has been said that Mr. Phillips was quoting Thomas Jefferson, but in a letter dated 14 April, 1879, Mr. Phillips wrote: '"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty" has been attributed to Jefferson, but no one has yet found it in his works or elsewhere.' It has also been attributed to Patrick Henry."
1850s
Context: Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty — power is ever stealing from the many to the few…. The hand entrusted with power becomes … the necessary enemy of the people. Only by continual oversight can the democrat in office be prevented from hardening into a despot: only by unintermitted Agitation can a people be kept sufficiently awake to principle not to let liberty be smothered in material prosperity.

Wilhelm Reich photo

“The kindly individual believes that all people are kindly and act accordingly. The plague individual believes that all people lie, swindle, steal and crave power.”

Listen, Little Man! (1948)
Context: The kindly individual believes that all people are kindly and act accordingly. The plague individual believes that all people lie, swindle, steal and crave power. Clearly, then, the living is at a disadvantage and in danger.

Marcus Aurelius photo

“A man may steal and be punished as a thief, or perform good deeds and be commended, but the power of Consciousness, which remains only a witness, is neither thief nor good man.”

Shantananda Saraswati (1934–2005) Hindu spiritual teacher

Teaching of His Holiness Shantanand Saraswati, The Study Society 2018

William Saroyan photo
Margaret Atwood photo
Seneca the Younger photo

“He who does not wish to die cannot have wished to live.”

Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter XXX: On conquering the conqueror

P. J. O'Rourke photo

Related topics