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The Best of Plato's Quotes


When we think philosophy, we think Plato. Plato is widely considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy. He was a philosopher in Classical Greece, and founded the Academy in Athens. Reading Plato's quotes makes me regret not having studied philosophy in high school. He indeed was a wise and knowledgeable man, a deep thinker. Herewith his best quotes. Use them to shape your world better, consequently making the world better for the lives you touch.
1. "Any man may easily do harm, but not every man can do good to another." - Plato
2. "There is in every one of us, even those who seem to be most moderate, a type of desire that is terrible, wild and lawless." - Plato, The Republic
3. "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." - Plato
4. "Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others." - Plato
5. "Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind." - Plato, The Republic
6. "No man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nature and education." -Plato
7. Excellence" is not a gift, but a skill that takes practice. We do not act "rightly" because we are "excellent", in fact we achieve "excellence" by acting "rightly".” - Plato
8. "Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed, by the masses." - Plato
9. "The first and best victory is to conquer self." - Plato
10. "True friendship can exist only between equals." - Plato
11. "At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet." - Plato
12. "Have you ever sensed that our soul is immortal and never dies?" - Plato, The Republic.
13. "No wealth can ever make a bad man at peace with himself." -Plato
14. "False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil." - Plato
15. "Nothing beautiful without struggle." - Plato, The Republic.
16. "All I really know is the extent of my own ignorance." - Plato
17. "All is flux, nothing stays still." - Plato
18. "Everything that deceives may be said to enchant." - Plato
19. "Wise men talk because they have something to say; Fools, because they have to say something." - Plato
20. "Knowledge is the food of the soul." - Plato
21. "The difficulty, my friends, is not avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death." - Plato
22. "This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears, he is a protector." - Plato
23. "I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning." - Plato
24. "Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another." - Plato
25. "Money-makers are tiresome company, as they have no standard but cash value." - Plato, The Republic
26. "Excess of liberty, whether it lies in state or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery." - Plato, The Republic.
27. "The most effective kind of education is that children should play among lovely things." - Plato
28. "Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous." - Plato
29. "A life without investigation is not worth living." - Plato, Apology/Crito/Phaedo
30. "Honesty is for the most part less profitable than dishonesty." - Plato
31. "Man is a prisoner who has no right to open the door of his prison and run away... A man should wait, and not take his own life until God summons him." - Plato, Phaedrus
32. "Those who don't know must learn from those who do." - Plato, The Republic
33. "All learning has an emotional base." - Plato
34. "Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber." - Plato
35. "The soul of man is immortal and imperishable." - Plato
36. "He who wishes to serve his country must have not only the power to think, but the will to act." - Plato
37. "Then the lover, who is true and no counterfeit, must of necessity be loved by his love." - Plato
38. "Be kind, because everyone is having a really hard time." - Plato
39. "There is no such thing as a lover's oath." - Plato
40. "Strange times are these in which we live when old and young are taught falsehoods in school. And the person that dares to tell the truth is called at once a lunatic and fool." - Plato
41. "I prefer nothing, unless it is true."
42. "Courage is a kind of salvation. Courage is knowing what not to fear." - Plato
43. "Your silence gives consent." - Plato
44. "Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety yo life and everything." - Plato
45. "Love is a serious mental illness." - Plato
46. "He who refuses to rule is liable to be ruled by one who is worse than himself." - Plato
47. "Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil." - Plato
48. "States will never be happy until rulers become philosophers or philosophers become rulers." - Plato
49. "We are twice armed if we fight with faith." - Plato
50. "It is impossible to improve the world if first the man does not improve." - Plato
51. "Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance." - Plato, The Republic
52. "The wise man will want to be ever with him who is better than himself." - Plato, Phaedo
53. "Every king springs from a race of slaves, and every slave had kings among his ancestors." - Plato
54. "Know thyself." - Plato
55. "Caring about the happiness of others, we find our own." - Plato
56. "Only the dead have seen the end of war." - Plato
57. "I am trying to think, don't confuse me with facts." - Plato
58. "If women are expected to do the same things as men, we must teach them the same things." -Plato, The Republic
59. "The measure of a man is what he does with power." - Plato
60. "Those who tell the stories rule society." -Plato
61. "Human behavior stems from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge." - Plato
62. "Education is teaching our children to desire the right things." - Plato
63. "There are three classes of men; lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain." - Plato
64. "There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot." - Plato
65. "You should not honor men more than truth." - Plato






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