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
impossible
It is impossible to conceive of many without one.
beautiful proportion courses
The good, of course, is always beautiful, and the beautiful never lacks proportion.
plato math men
There still remain three studies suitable for free man. Arithmetic is one of them.
thinking people ordinary
We must now examine whether just people also live better and are happier than unjust ones. I think it's clear already that this is so, but we must look into it further, since the argument concerns no ordinary topic, but the way we ought to live.
gold doe earth
All the gold upon the earth and all the gold beneath it, does not compensate for lack of virtue.
past men evil
No one punishes the evil-doer under the notion, or for the reason, that he has done wrong -- only the unreasonable fury of a beast acts in that way. But he who desires to inflict rational punishment does not retaliate for a past wrong, for that which is done cannot be undone, but he has regard to the future, and is desirous that the man who is punished, and he who sees him punished, may be deterred from doing wrong again.
faults fool given
I am not given to finding fault, for there are innumerable fools.
plato reality giving
So their combinations with themselves and with each other give rise to endless complexities, which anyone who is to give a likely account of reality must survey.
doors soul lust
The prison of lust is just that very one of which the soul shuts the doors upon herself; for each act of indulgence is the shooting of a fresh bolt.
love men exclusion
If a man can be properly said to love something, it must be clear that he feels affection for it as a whole, and does not love part of it to the exclusion of the rest.
adversity want helping
He that lendeth to another in time of prosperity, shall never want help himself in the time of adversity.
knowledge may masters
In things which we know, everyone will trust us ... and we may do as we please, and no one will like to interfere with us; and we are free, and masters of others; and these things will be really ours, for we shall turn them to our good.
exercise mind joints
We should not exercise the body without the joint assistance of the mind; nor exercise the mind without the joint assistance of the body.
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.