Quotes from Plato

for the interests of rulers require that their subjects should be poor in spirit, and that there should be no strong bond of friendship or society among them, which love, above all other motives, is likely to inspire, as our Athenian tyrants learned by experience; for... [love] had a strength which undid their power...

The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. I do not mean the systematic scheme of thought which scholars have doubtfully extracted from his writings. I allude to the wealth of general ideas scattered through them.

deÄŸeri olan bir kimse yaÅŸayacak m?y?m yoksa ölecek miyim diye düÅŸünmemelidir. bir iÅŸ görürken yaln?zca doÄŸru mu eÄŸri mi, yürekli bir insan gibi mi yoksa tabans?zca m? davrand???n? düÅŸünmelidir.

To suffer the penalty of too much haste, which is too little speed.

when a man comes near to the realization that he will be making an end, fear and care enter him for things to which he gave no thought before. The tales17 told about what is in Hades—that the one who has done unjust deeds18 here must pay the penalty there—at which he laughed up to then, now make his soul twist and turn because he fears they might be true.

Yes, but do not persons often err about good and evil: many who are not good seem to be so, and conversely? That

There you have Socrates' wisdom; [b] he himself isn't willing to teach, but he goes around learning from others and isn't even grateful to them.

Let this then be one of our rules and principles concerning the gods, to which our poets and reciters will be expected to conform --that God is not the author of all things, but of good only.

For it is not because they fear doing unjust deeds, but because they fear suffering them, that those who blame injustice do so.

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

The vulgar love of the body which takes wing and flies away when the bloom of youth is over, is disgraceful, and so is the interested love of power or wealth; but the love of the noble mind is lasting.

Menaklukan diri sendiri adalah kemenangan yang paling akbar.

Old age has a great sense of calm and freedom when the passions relax their hold, then, as Sophocles says, we are free from the grasp, not of one mad master only, but of many.

There seem to be two causes of the deterioration of the arts. What are they? Wealth, I said, and poverty. How do they act? The process is as follows: When a potter becomes rich, will he, think you, any longer take the same pains with his art? Certainly not. He will grow more and more indolent and careless? Very true. And the result will be that he becomes a worse potter? Yes; he greatly deteriorates.

There is no greater evil one can suffer than to hate reasonable discourse.

A philosopher has the moderate love for wisdom and the courage to act according to wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge about the Good or the right relations between all that exists. Wherein

Berbaik hatilah, karena semua orang yang kau temui sedang berjuang dalam pertempuran yang lebih sulit.

Or isn't virtue in tension with wealth, as though each were lying in the scale of a balance, always inclining in opposite directions?

In the knowledgeable realm, the form of the good is the last thing to be seen, and it is reached only with difficulty. Once one has seen it, however, one must conclude that it is the cause of all that is correct and beautiful in anything, that it produces both light and its source in the visible realm, and that in the intelligible realm it controls and provides truth and understanding, so that anyone who is to act sensibly in private or public must see it.

True love is admiration

So when the orator is more convincing than the doctor, what happens is that an ignorant person is more convincing than the expert before an equally ignorant audience.

I replied: There is nothing which for my part I like better, Cephalus, than conversing with aged men; for I regard them as travellers who have gone a journey which I too may have to go, and of whom I ought to enquire, whether the way is smooth and easy, or rugged and difficult.

What you should do, said Socrates, is to say a magic spell over him every day until you have charmed his fears away.

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.