Plato quotes - page 4

Then the case is the same in all the other arts for the orator and his rhetoric; there is no need to know the truth of the actual matters, but one merely needs to have discovered some device of persuasion which will make one appear to those who do not know to know better than those who know. (Plato)
You want to know whether I can make a long speech, such as you are in the habit of hearing; but that is not my way. View quote
Plato
The inexperienced in wisdom and virtue, ever occupied with feasting and such, are carried downward, and there, as is fitting, they wander their whole life long, neither ever looking upward to the truth above them nor rising toward it, nor tasting pure and lasting pleasures. Like cattle, always looking downward with their heads bent toward the ground and the banquet tables, they feed, fatten, and fornicate. In order to increase their possessions they kick and butt with horns and hoofs of steel and kill each other, insatiable as they are. View quote
Plato
There is no one who ever acts honestly in the administration of states, nor any helper who will save any one who maintains the cause of the just. View quote
Plato
Successful people never worry about what others are doing. View quote
Plato
No one should be discouraged, Theaetetus, who can make constant progress, even though it be slow. View quote
Plato
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they would like to say something. As empty vessels make the loudest sounds, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers. View quote
Plato
Magic consists of, and is acquired by the worship of the gods. View quote
Plato
Perception and knowledge could never be the same. View quote
Plato
No man of sense can put himself and his soul under the control of names... You must consider courageously and thoroughly and not accept anything carelessly. View quote
Plato
I do see one large and grievous kind of ignorance, separate from the rest, and as weighty as all the other parts put together. Thinking that one knows a thing when one does not know it. Through this, I believe, all the mistakes of the mind are caused in all of us. (Plato)
The greatest and noblest conceptions have no image wrought plainly for human vision, which he who wishes to satisfy the mind of the inquirer can apply to some one of his senses and by mere exhibition satisfy the mind. We must therefore endeavor by practice to acquire the power of giving and understanding a rational definition of each one of them; for immaterial things, which are the noblest and greatest, can be exhibited by reason only, and it is for their sake that all we are saying is said. But it is always easier to practice in small matters than in greater ones. View quote
Plato
Twice and thrice over, as they say, good is it to repeat and review what is good. View quote
Plato
For good nurture and education implant good constitutions. View quote
Plato
No man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nature and education. View quote
Plato
Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous. View quote
Plato
The good is the beautiful. View quote
Plato
Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind. View quote
Plato
He who is not a good servant will not be a good master. View quote
Plato
Whatever deceives men seems to produce a magical enchantment. View quote
Plato
As the builders say, the larger stones do not lie well without the lesser. (Plato)
Any man may easily do harm, but not every man can do good to another. View quote
Plato
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. View quote
Plato
Doing what is for the good of the people, this must be the truest criterion of right government, in accordance with which the wise and good man will govern the affairs of his subjects. Just as the captain of a ship keeps watch for what is at any moment for the good of the vessel and the sailors, not by writing rules, but by making his science his law, and thus preserves his fellow voyagers, so may not a right government be established in the same way by men who could rule by this principle, making science more powerful than the laws? And whatever the wise rulers do, they can commit no error, so long as they maintain one great principle and by always dispensing absolute justice to them with wisdom and science are able to preserve the citizens and make them better than they were, so far as that is possible. View quote
Plato
It is right to give every man his due. View quote
Plato