174 Plato Quotes
Philosophy begins in wonder
Knowledge is true opinion
Love is the pursuit of the whole
Philosophy is the highest music
The good is the beautiful
Life must be lived as play
Love is a serious mental disease
Your silence gives consent
Courage is a kind of salvation
Character is simply habit long continued

Plato quotes with pictures

Necessity is the mother of invention
Knowledge is the food of the soul
Those who tell the stories rule society
Courage is knowing what not to fear
Man: A being in search of meaning
In fact we achieve excellence by acting rightly
The measure of a man is what he does with power
There is no harm in repeating a good thing
We are twice armed if we fight with faith
Excellence is not a gift, but a skill that takes practice
I'm trying to think, don't confuse me with facts
Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men
At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet
There is truth in wine and children
No law or ordinance is mightier than understanding
Wealth is well known to be a great comforter
Death is not the worst that can happen to men
Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil
But Above all things truth beareth away the victory
One man cannot practice many arts with success
The wisest have the most authority
The greatest wealth is to live content with little
You should not honor men more than truth
Democracy passes into despotism
Only the dead have seen the end of war
Attention to health is life greatest hindrance
Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous
Poetry comes nearer to vital truth than history
Science is nothing but perception
He was a wise man who invented beer
I shall assume that your silence gives consent
The gods service is tolerable, man's intolerable
There is no such thing as a lovers oath
Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy
Wisdom alone is the science of other sciences
Books are immortal sons defying their sires
Friends have all things in common
It is right to give every man his due
Cunning is but the low mimic of wisdom
Thinking: the talking of the soul with itself
We do not act rightly because we are excellent
I would fain grow old learning many things
The blame is his who chooses: God is blameless
They certainly give very strange names to diseases
When men speak ill of thee, live so that nobody will believe them
Better a little which is well done, than a great deal imperfectly
He who is not a good servant will not be a good master
If a man neglects education, he walks lame to the end of his life
For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle
Education is teaching our children to desire the right things
The beginning is the most important part of the work
Honesty is for the most part less profitable than dishonesty
Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance
No one is a friend to his friend who does not love in return
States are as the men, they grow out of human characters
For good nurture and education implant good constitutions
Must not all things at the last be swallowed up in death?
No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death
The spiritual eyesight improves as the physical eyesight declines
A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers
If particulars are to have meaning, there must be universals
The madness of love is the greatest of heaven's blessings
We are bound to our bodies like an oyster is to its shell
Whatever deceives men seems to produce a magical enchantment
Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety
Not to help justice in her need would be an impiety
This city is what it is because our citizens are what they are
There must always remain something that is antagonistic to good
By the golden chain Homer meant nothing else than the sun
Man is a wingless animal with two feet and flat nails
Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others
Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind
Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow
Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge
There are three classes of men, lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain
Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity
The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life
Truth is the beginning of every good to the gods, and of every good to man
Any man may easily do harm, but not every man can do good to another
Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another
Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence
Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue
As the builders say, the larger stones do not lie well without the lesser
The excessive increase of anything causes a reaction in the opposite direction
Hardly any human being is capable of pursuing two professions or two arts rightly
Twice and thrice over, as they say, good is it to repeat and review what is good
Virtue is relative to the actions and ages of each of us in all that we do
We do not learn, and what we call learning is only a process of recollection
The most important part of education is proper training in the nursery
Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the Gods
Not only an old man, but also a drunkard, becomes a second time a child
Wonder is the feeling of the philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder
Poets utter great and wise things which they do not themselves understand
I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning
He who commits injustice is ever made more wretched than he who suffers it
No one ever teaches well who wants to teach, or governs well who wants to govern
Knowledge without justice ought to be called cunning rather than wisdom
The eyes of the soul of the multitudes are unable to endure the vision of the divine
It is a common saying, and in everybody's mouth, that life is but a sojourn
You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation
The community which has neither poverty nor riches will always have the noblest principles
If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things
There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot
This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs, when he first appears he is a protector
To love rightly is to love what is orderly and beautiful in an educated and disciplined way
Wise people talk because they have something to say, fools, because they have to say something
He who steals a little steals with the same wish as he who steals much, but with less power
All the gold which is under or upon the earth is not enough to give in exchange for virtue
Excess of liberty, whether it lies in state or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery
Justice means minding one's own business and not meddling with other men's concerns
When a benefit is wrongly conferred, the author of the benefit may often be said to injure
People who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors
The most virtuous are those who content themselves with being virtuous without seeking to appear so
I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident, they came by work
No man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nature and education
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws
The learning and knowledge that we have, is, at the most, but little compared with that of which we are ignorant
A state arises, as I conceive, out of the needs of mankind, no one is self-sufficing, but all of us have many wants
Justice in the life and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens
When there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark, the real tragedy of life is when adults are afraid of the light
Know one knows whether death, which people fear to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good
Our object in the construction of the state is the greatest happiness of the whole, and not that of any one class
Man never legislates, but destinies and accidents, happening in all sorts of ways, legislate in all sorts of ways
Wonder is very much the affection of a philosopher, for there is no other beginning of philosophy than this
The soul takes flight to the world that is invisible but there arriving she is sure of bliss and forever dwells in paradise
Fields and trees are not willing to teach me anything, but this can be effected by men residing in the city
To go to the world below, having a soul which is like a vessel full of injustice, is the last and worst of all the evils
I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict
Without effort, you cannot be prosperous. Though the land be good, You cannot have an abundant crop without cultivation
The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself, to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile
Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty
Then not only custom, but also nature affirms that to do is more disgraceful than to suffer injustice, and that justice is equality
Musical innovation is full of danger to the State, for when modes of music change, the laws of the State always change with them
It is as expedient that a wicked man be punished as that a sick man be cured by a physician, for all chastisement is a kind of medicine
Injustice is censured because the censures are afraid of suffering, and not from any fear which they have of doing injustice
Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything
No trace of slavery ought to mix with the studies of the freeborn man. No study, pursued under compulsion, remains rooted in the memory
People are like dirt. They can either nourish you and help you grow as a person or they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die
The curse of me and my nation is that we always think things can be bettered by immediate action of some sort, any sort rather than no sort
Excess generally causes reaction, and produces a change in the opposite direction, whether it be in the seasons, or in individuals, or in governments
Democracy is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike
It is clear to everyone that astronomy at all events compels the soul to look upwards, and draws it from the things of this world to the other
The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depend upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily
He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition, youth and age are equally a burden
A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is found among a thousand, but an accomplished one might not be found even among a hundred thousand men
To prefer evil to good is not in human nature, and when a man is compelled to choose one of two evils, no one will choose the greater when he might have the less
We ought to esteem it of the greatest importance that the fictions which children first hear should be adapted in the most perfect manner to the promotion of virtue
If a man can be properly said to love something, it must be clear that he feels affection for it as a whole, and does not love part of it to the exclusion of the rest
The rulers of the state are the only persons who ought to have the privilege of lying, either at home or abroad, they may be allowed to lie for the good of the state
Those who intend on becoming great should love neither themselves nor their own things, but only what is just, whether it happens to be done by themselves or others
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream, or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?
All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by one Workman, and however we deceive ourselves, as dear unto God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince
There's a victory, and defeat, the first and best of victories, the lowest and worst of defeats which each man gains or sustains at the hands not of another, but of himself
Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each
In politics we presume that everyone who knows how to get votes knows how to administer a city or a state. When we are ill, we do not ask for the handsomest physician, or the most eloquent one
When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing more to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader
Entire ignorance is not so terrible or extreme as evil, and is far from being the greatest of all, too much cleverness and too much learning, accompanied with ill bringing-up, are far more fatal
Ignorance of all things is an evil neither terrible nor excessive, nor yet the greatest of all, but great cleverness and much learning, if they be accompanied by a bad training, are a much greater misfortune

Plato sayings and pictures

I know not how I may seem to others, but to myself I am but a small child wandering upon the vast shores of knowledge, every now and then finding a small bright pebble to content myself with
For the introduction of a new kind of music must be shunned as imperiling the whole state, since styles of music are never disturbed without affecting the most important political institutions
We ought to fly away from earth to heaven as quickly as we can, and to fly away is to become like God, as far as this is possible, and to become like him is to become holy, just, and wise