Plato Quotes
- Mini Bio
- Name: Plato
- Born: 428 BC, Athens, Greece
- Died: 347 BC, Athens, Greece
- Era: Ancient philosophy
- School: Platonism
- Occupation: Philosopher
- Famous for: In 387 BC he founded the Academy in Athens which was an al fresco philosophical school
- Influences: Diotima, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Pythagoras and Socrates
- Inspired: Aristotle, Dante, Ellen Francis Mason, Francesco Petrarca, Harold F. Cherniss, Henry More, Lord Byron, Percy Shelly, Raphael, William Shakespeare and William Wordsworth
- Trivia: Legend has it that there was a sign at the entrance to the Academy with the following Plato quote: "Let none who has not learned Geometry enter here". Even though it is unsubstantiated it still adds to the mystique of this great Greek philosopher
"Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something"
Plato"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle"
Plato"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men"
Plato"The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself"
Plato"Never discourage anyone... who continually makes progress, no matter how slow"
Plato"I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing"
Plato"Access to power must be confined to those who are not in love with it"
Plato"Reality is created by the mind, we can change our reality by changing our mind"
Plato"No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth"
Plato"The right question is usually more important than the right answer"
Plato"Wonder is the feeling of the philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder"
Plato"Ignorance, the root and the stem of every evil"
Plato"The measure of a man is what he does with power"
Plato"The first and the best victory is to conquer self"
Plato"Only the dead have seen the end of war"
Plato"I'm trying to think, don't confuse me with facts"
Plato"There is truth in wine and children"
Plato"The body is the tomb of the soul"
Plato"Time is the moving image of reality"
Plato"Courage is knowing what not to fear"
PlatoGreat quotes are not where you find great wisdom. It's where you share this knowledge that counts
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Plato Biography
Bio By: Michael Joseph Farrelly
The classical Greek philosopher Plato has been the most studied of all the wise scholars of the ancient world making him integral to the influence on western thought. He grew up in the shadow of his teacher Socrates who taught him the art of relentlessly questioning everything in a bid to stimulate critical thinking.
Plato founded the Academy that many refer to as the father of universities and it was here that he discovered a prodigious talent called Aristotle that he helped to mold into one of the ancient worlds most eminent philosophers.
Unlike many of his ancient Greek philosophical peers most of the writings of Plato have remained intact, meaning he has become one of the most studied writers of his era. His dialogues have been dissected, discussed and digested by generations of students eager to learn how his teaching had an influence on both western and Islamic societies alike.
Plato was not just a philosopher as he was passionate about mathematics courtesy of being inspired by Pythagoras and so he continued to promote maths as a way of solving all sorts of problems as well as giving a greater understanding of many things in the real world.
As you would expect from such an eminent teacher of scholars he was good for a quip or two also, so here is my compilation of 20 of the best Plato quotes
Quotes About Plato
The mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead talked about foundations: "The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato"
The English philosopher George Henry Lewes was respectful in his words: "Plato was the most artistic of philosophers... among men of great eminence"
Galileo Galilei made this comparison: "I would not do so much wrong to Plato, but yet I may truly say with Aristotle, that he too much lost himself in, and too much doted upon that, his Geometry: for that in conclusion these Mathematical subtilties, Salviatus, are true in abstract, but applied to sensible and Physical matter, they hold not good"
Immanuel Kant made this observation: "Just in the same way did Plato, abandoning the world of sense because of the narrow limits it sets to the understanding, venture upon the wings of ideas beyond it, into the void space of pure intellect. He did not reflect that he made no real progress by all his efforts; for he met with no resistance which might serve him for a support"
From the world of science Isaac Newton came to this conclusion: "Plato is my friend - Aristotle is my friend - but my greatest friend is truth"
The philosopher Bertrand Russell gave this assessment: "It has always been correct to praise Plato, but not to understand him"
