“If the knowledge which we acquired before birth was lost to us at birth, and afterwords by the use of the senses we recovered that which we previously knew, will not that which we call learning be a process of recovering our knowledge, and may not this be rightly termed recollection by us? …Then, Simmias, our souls must have existed before they were in the form of man—without bodies, and must have had intelligence.”
Plato, Phaedo
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Socrates 168
classical Greek Athenian philosopher -470–-399 BCRelated quotes

Source: Reason: The Only Oracle Of Man (1784), Ch. V Section II - Containing Observations on the Providence and Agency of God, as it Respects the Natural and Moral World, with Strictures on Revelation in General

“Before we acquire great power we must acquire wisdom to use it well.”

"Poetry is Not a Luxury"
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (1984)

Source: Reason: The Only Oracle Of Man (1784), Ch. XIII Section II - Of The Importance of the Exercise of Reason, and Practice of Morality, in order to the Happiness of Mankind

Source: The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America (1961), p. 261.

Speech in Leeds against Irish Home Rule (18 June 1886), quoted in The Times (19 June 1886), p. 12
1880s