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 soul world
To go to the world below, having a soul which is like a vessel full of injustice, is the last and worst of all the evils.
wise plato heaven
We ought to fly away from earth to heaven as quickly as we can; and to fly away is to become like God, as far as this is possible; and to become like him is to become holy, just, and wise.
wise justice brave
Justice in the individual is now defined analogously to justice in the state. The individual is wise and brave in virtue of his reason and spirit respectively: he is disciplined when spirit and appetite are in proper subordination to reason. He is just in virtue of the harmony which exists when all three elements of the mind perform their proper function and so achieve their proper fulfillment; he is unjust when no such harmony exists.
music republic art-education
Music is a more potent instrument than any other for education.
order everyday vision
In order to seek one's own direction, one must simplify the mechanics of ordinary, everyday life.
science soul looks
Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another.
courage knowing
Courage is knowing what to fear.
plato health attention
Attention to health is life greatest hindrance.
plato ignorance evil
Ignorance of all things is an evil neither terrible nor excessive, nor yet the greatest of all; but great cleverness and much learning, if they be accompanied by a bad training, are a much greater misfortune.
lying eye beholder
Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.
plato justice lasts
And all knowledge, when separated from justice and virtue, is seen to be cunning and not wisdom; wherefore make this your first and last and constant and all-absorbing aim, to exceed, if possible, not only us but all your ancestors in virtue; and know that to excel you in virtue only brings us shame, but that to be excelled by you is a source of happiness to us.
ambition character reality
One trait in the philosopher's character we can assume is his love of the knowledge that reveals eternal reality, the realm unaffected by change and decay. He is in love with the whole of that reality, and will not willingly be deprived even of the most insignificant fragment of it - just like the lovers and men of ambition we described earlier on.
men giving every-man
It is right to give every man his due.
education real school
The only real ill-doing is the deprivation of knowledge.