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
evil desire good-and-evil
When anything is in the presence of evil, but is not as yet evil, the presence of good arouses the desire of good in that thing; but the presence of evil, which makes a thing evil, takes away the desire and friendship of the good; for that which was once both good and evil has now become evil only, and the good has no friendship with evil.
wisdom spokes advantage
Was not this ... what we spoke of as the great advantage of wisdom -- to know what is known and what is unknown to us?
wisdom men succeed
Wisdom always makes men fortunate: for by wisdom no man could ever err, and therefore he must act rightly and succeed, or his wisdom would be wisdom no longer.
kind should
I should not like to say ... that any kind of knowledge is not to be learned; for all knowledge appears to be a good.
men musician virtue
When I hear a man discoursing of virtue, or of any sort of wisdom, who is a true man and worthy of his theme, I am delighted beyond measure: and I compare the man and his words, and note the harmony and correspondence of them. And such an one I deem to be the true musician, having in himself a fairer harmony than that of the lyre.
army fighting men
For every man who has learned to fight in arms will desire to learn the proper arrangement of an army, which is the sequel of the lesson.
may stills
The like is not the friend of the like in as far as he is like; still the good may be the friend of the good in as far as he is good.
unity passionate enmity
The good are like one another, and friends to one another; and ... the bad, as is often said of them, are never at unity with one another or with themselves, but are passionate and restless: and that which is at variance and enmity with itself is not likely to be in union or harmony with any other thing.
desire type terrible
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.
sweet opposites desire
Everything desires not like but unlike: for example, the dry desires the moist, the cold the hot, the bitter the sweet, the sharp the blunt, the void the full, the full the void, and so of all other things; for the opposite is the food of the opposite, whereas like receives like receives nothing from like.
ignorant wit
He seemeth to be most ignorant that trusteth most to his wit.
arrogance folly
Arrogance is ever accompanied by folly.
know-thyself knows thyself
Do thine own work, and know thyself.
truth way relation
Let us affirm what seems to be the truth, that, whether one is or is not, one and the others in relation to themselves and one another, all of them, in every way, are and are not, and appear to be and appear not to be.