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Plato Quotes

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Famous Plato Quotes

“For the rhapsode ought to interpret the mind of the poet to his hearers, but how can he interpret him well unless he knows what he means?”

KnowsMindWellsMeanPoetOught
Book:Plato: The Complete Works: From the greatest Greek philosopher, known for The Republic, Symposium, Apology, Phaedrus, Laws, Crito, Phaedo, Timaeus, Meno, Euthyphro, Gorgias, Parmenides, Protagoras, Statesman and Critias
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“For not by art does the poet sing, but by power divine. Had he learned by rules of art, he would have known how to speak not of one theme only, but of all; and therefore God takes away the minds of poets, and uses them as his ministers, as he also uses diviners and holy prophets, in order that we who hear them may know them to be speaking not of themselves who utter these priceless words in a state of unconsciousness, but that God himself is the speaker, and that through them he is conversing with us.”

KnowsMindMayDoeArtStatesUseOrderSpeakKnownDivinePoetHolyMinistersProphetThemeSpeakersPricelessUnconsciousnessHoly Prophet
Author:Plato
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“If anyone comes to the gates of poetry and expects to become an adequate poet by acquiring expert knowledge of the subject without the Muses' madness, he will fail, and his self-controlled verses will be eclipsed by the poetry of men who have been driven out of their minds.”

IfsMenMindHas BeensSelfFailingSubjectsPoetMadnessDrivenExpertsGatesControlledVersesMuseAdequate
Book:A Plato Reader: Eight Essential Dialogues
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“That's what education should be," I said, "the art of orientation. Educators should devise the simplest and most effective methods of turning minds around. It shouldn't be the art of implanting sight in the organ, but should proceed on the understanding that the organ already has the capacity, but is improperly aligned and isn't facing the right way.”

WayShouldMindArtSaidUnderstandingTeacherCapacitySightMethodOrgansRight WaySimplestOrientationEducator
Author:Plato
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“Let us describe the education of our men. What then is the education to be? Perhaps we could hardly find a better than that which the experience of the past has already discovered, which consists, I believe, in gymnastic, for the body, and music for the mind.”

MenMindBelieveBodyPastI BelieveEducationMusicI Believe InPlato
Book:The Republic of Plato, Translated Into English, with an Introduction, Analysis, and Notes. By J. Ll. Davies and D. J. Vaughan
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“Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity - I mean the true simplicity of a rightly and nobly ordered mind and character, not that other simplicity which is only a euphemism for folly.”

MindMeanCharacterGraceStyleDependsHarmonySimplicityRhythmFollyPlatoEuphemism
Book:The Republic: A Socratic Dialogue Concerning the Definition of Justice and the Order and Character of the Just City-State and the Just Man (Beloved Books Edition)
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“A grateful mind is a great mind which eventually attracts to itself great things.”

MindMotivationGratitudeGratefulAppreciationGreat ThingsThank YouThankfulBeing ThankfulThankful GratitudeGreat MindsExpressing GratitudeThanksgiving And GratitudeThanksgiving GratitudeThank You GratitudeGratitude And ThanksGreat GratitudeThankful For YouExpress AppreciationThank You AppreciationGratitude For LifeGrateful For YouGrateful ThankfulGratitude For WorkGrateful ThanksThings To Be ThankfulGrateful For LifeBeing Grateful For LifeThings To Be GratefulWork AppreciationGrateful And Thankful
Author:Plato
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“Harmony sinks deep into the recesses of the soul and takes its strongest hold there, bringing grace also to the body & mind as well. Music is a moral law. It gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, and life to everything. It is the essence of order.”

GivingMindWellsSoulBodyInspirationLawOrderUniverseImaginationMoralGraceSadnessMusic IsEssenceHarmonyWingsFlightContemplationCharmStrongestMoral LawRecess
Author:Plato
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“Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds.”

MindChildrenForceEducationLearningTeachingDirectTrainEducationalSchoolingSchooledGreat EducationEducation And TeachersUnschoolingGreat EducationalTeacher StudentChildren LearningInspirational TeacherTeacher And StudentInspirational EducationChildren EducationStudents And EducationLearning By DoingHarshnessStudent LearningChildren And EducationInspirational EducationalTeachers Learning From StudentsProblems In School
Author:Plato
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“Remember how in that communion only, beholding beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabled to bring forth, not images of beauty, but realities (for he has hold not of an image but of a reality), and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may.”

IfsMenMindMayRealityEyeRememberBeautyVirtueMindfulnessMortalsImmortalCommunionBeauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder
Book:The Portable Plato
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“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.”

MindStatesReasonPoliticalSpiritThreeIndividualJusticeVirtueWiseAchieveElementsFunctionHarmonyBraveDefinedFulfillmentAppetiteUnjustSubordination
Book:The Republic
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“The true lover of learning then must his earliest youth, as far as in him lies, desire all truth.... He whose desires are drawn toward knowledge in every form will be absorbed in the pleasures of the soul, and will hardly feel bodily pleasures I mean, if he be a true philosopher and not a sham one ... Then how can he who has the magnificence of mind and is the spectator of all times and all existence, think much of human life He cannot. Or can such a one account death fearful No indeed.”

IfsThinkingLifeFeelsMindHumansMeanSoulFormLyingDesirePleasureExistenceYouthLoversAccountsPhilosopherAll TimeHuman LifeDeceitFearfulSpectatorsMagnificenceTrue Lovers
Author:Plato
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“'But surely "blind" is just how you would describe men who have no true knowledge of reality, and no clear standard in their mind to refer to, as a painter refers to his model, and which they can study closely before they start laying down rules about what is fair or right or good where they are needed, or maintaining, as Guardians, any rules that already exist.' 'Yes, blind is just about what they are'”

MenMindRealityStudyClearNeededWords Of WisdomModelsStandardsFairsBlindPainterMaintainingGuardianTrue KnowledgeLaying DownDescribe Me
Author:Plato
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“Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when he sees any one whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that soul of man has come out of the brighter light, and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned from darkness to the day is dazzled by excess of light.”

MenMindFirstsKindTwoSoulLightEyeRememberAsksCausesDarkCommonVisionDarknessLaughingReadyWeakAriseCommon SenseThriveExcessComing OutBrighterPerplexedBewildermentWeak Will
Book:The Portable Plato
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