Plato
Plato
Platowas a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, especially the Western tradition. Unlike nearly all of his philosophical contemporaries, Plato's entire œuvre is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years...
NationalityGreek
ProfessionPhilosopher
language discourse subjects
A written discourse on any subject is bound to contain much that is fanciful.
wings race flying
The natural function of the wing is to soar upwards and carry that which is heavy up to the place where dwells the race of gods. More than any other thing that pertains to the body it partakes of the nature of the divine.
inspirational recognition
All thought begins with the recognition that something is out of place.
freedom love-is inspire
Of all the Gods, Love is the best friend of humankind, the helper and healer of all ills that stand in the way of human happiness.
wise emasculation mob-rule
Mob rule and emasculation of the wise' and 'who will watch the guardians'?
greed democracy excess
Is it not the excess and greed of this and the neglect of all other things that revolutionizes this constitution too and prepares the way for the necessity of a dictatorship?
blood hands land
And is it not true that in like manner a leader of the people who, getting control of a docile mob, does not withhold his hand from the shedding of tribal blood, but by the customary unjust accusations brings a citizen into court and assassinates him, blotting out a human life, and with unhallowed tongue and lips that have tasted kindred blood, banishes and slays and hints at the abolition of debts and the partition of lands.
party winning office
And a democracy, I suppose, comes into being when the poor, winning the victory, put to death some of the other party, drive out others, and grant the rest of the citizens an equal share in both citizenship and offices.
government democracy kind
A delightful form of government, anarchic and motley, assigning a kind of equality indiscriminately to equals and unequals alike!
break-up disease break
Love: a grave mental disease.
art would-be measurement
If someone separated the art of counting and measuring and weighing from all the other arts, what was left of each (of the others) would be, so to speak, insignificant.
love valentines-day art
Romantic Art: The Hearts Awakening - Bouguereau At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet.
art men idols
. . . the triumph of my art is in thoroughly examining whether the thought which the mind of the young man brings forth is a false idol or a noble and true birth.
religion atheism moral
Is what is moral commanded by God because it is moral, or is it moral because it is commanded by God?