Plato,(born 428/427 BCE, Athens, Greece—died 348/347, Athens), is best known as the author of great philosophical works. He was the student of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle. Plato as a young man was a member of the circle around Socrates. The works of Plato commonly referred to as “Socratic” represent the sort of thing the historical Socrates was doing.
Here are 60 most powerful and inspirational Plato quotes on knowledge, life, wisdom and democracy.
1. The excessive increase in anything causes a reaction in the opposite direction–Plato
2. Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others. –Plato
3. The measure of a man is what he does with power. -Plato
4. 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. -Plato
5. Thinking – the talking of the soul with itself. -Plato
6. “Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.” -Plato
7. 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
8. Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance. -Plato
9. For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories. -Plato
10. There are three classes of men: lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain. -Plato
11. The beginning is the most important part of the work. -Plato
12. Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet. -Plato
13. 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
14. We are twice armed if we fight with faith. -Plato
15. We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. -Plato
16. Love is born into every human being; it calls back the halves of our original nature together; it tries to make one out of two and heal the wound of human nature. -Plato
17. To love rightly is to love what is orderly and beautiful in an educated and disciplined way. -Plato
18. The one who learns and learns and doesn’t practice is like the one who plows and plows and never plants. -Plato
19. There is no harm in repeating a good thing. -Plato
20. The madness of love is the greatest of heaven’s blessings. -Plato
21. And what, Socrates, is the food of the soul? Surely, I said, knowledge is the food of the soul. -Plato
22. The right question is usually more important than the right answer. -Plato
23. 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. -Plato
24. If a man neglects education, he walks lame to the end of his life. -Plato
25. The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life. -Plato
26. One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -Plato
27. Knowledge without justice ought to be called cunning rather than wisdom. -Plato
28. Excess of liberty, whether it lies in state or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery.-Plato
29. False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil. -Plato
30. Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow. -Plato
31. An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers. -Plato
32. Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws. -Plato
33. No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth. -Plato
34. There are three classes of men; lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain. -Plato
35. No man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nature and education. -Plato
36. Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow. -Plato
37. One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -Plato
38. The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. -Plato
39. If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things. -Plato
40. Courage is knowing what not to fear. -Plato
41. Poverty doesn’t come because of the decrease of wealth but because of the increase of desires. -Plato
42. You should not honor men more than truth. -Plato
43. Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others. -Plato
44. “Poets utter great and wise things which they themselves do not understand.” -Plato
45. A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers. -Plato
46. Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge. -Plato
47. Love is born into every human being; it calls back the halves of our original nature together; it tries to make one out of two and heal the wound of human nature. -Plato
48. I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing. -Plato
49. Reality is created by the mind, we can change our reality by changing our mind. -Plato
50. Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -Plato
51. When you feel grateful, you become great, and eventually attract great things. -Plato
52. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. -Plato
53. Wealth, and poverty; one is the parent of luxury and indolence, and the other of meanness and viciousness, and both of discontent. – Plato
54. The greatest wealth is to live content with little. -Plato
55. Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws. -Plato
56. You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. -Plato
57. If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools. -Plato
58. If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things. -Plato
59. Knowledge without justice ought to be called cunning rather than wisdom. -Plato
60. Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle. -Plato
