Plato was a renowned Greek philosopher who was born in Athens in the year 428 BC. He was the son of Ariston and Perictione, both of whom were from aristocratic families. Plato’s father died when he was a young boy, and his mother later married Pyrilampes, an ambassador from Athens. Plato was educated by some of the most renowned philosophers of his time, including Socrates, Anaxagoras, and Parmenides.
Plato was a very influential figure in the development of Western philosophy, and his ideas and thoughts have been studied and debated by philosophers for centuries. Some of his most famous works include The Republic and The Symposium. Plato also founded the Academy, which was the first institution of higher learning in the Western world.
Table of Contents:
1. Early Life and Education
2. The Academy
3. Plato’s Works
4. Philosophy
5. Legacy
6. Top Plato Quotes
Early Life:
Plato was born in Athens in the year 428 BC. His father, Ariston, was from a wealthy and aristocratic family, and his mother, Perictione, was also from an aristocratic background. Plato’s father died when he was a young boy, and his mother later married Pyrilampes, an ambassador from Athens.
Plato was educated by some of the most renowned philosophers of his time, including Socrates, Anaxagoras, and Parmenides. He also studied under the tutelage of the famous mathematician, Euclid. Plato was a very intelligent and talented individual, and he quickly became well-versed in a variety of subjects.
The Academy:
In 387 BC, Plato founded the Academy, which was the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. The Academy was located in Athens, and it quickly became a renowned center of learning. Plato and his fellow philosophers taught a wide range of subjects, including physics, mathematics, and political science.
Plato’s Works:
Plato was a very prolific writer, and he authored a number of famous works, including The Republic and The Symposium. Plato’s works were very influential in the development of Western philosophy.
Philosophy:
Plato was a very influential figure in the development of Western philosophy. His ideas and thoughts have been studied and debated by philosophers for centuries. Plato’s philosophy was based on the belief that there is a realm of reality that is separate from the physical world.
Legacy:
Plato is considered to be one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy. His ideas and thoughts have had a profound impact on the development of Western thought.
Top Plato Quotes:
Many men are loved by their enemies, and hated by their friends, and are the friends of their enemies, and the enemies of their friends. – Plato
“A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.” – Plato
“Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet.” – Plato
“Love is a serious mental disease.” – Plato
Desires are only the lack of something: and those who have the greatest desires are in a worse condition than those who have none, or very slight ones. – Plato
“Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.” – Plato
Ignorance, the root and the stem of every evil. – Plato
Laws are partly formed for the sake of good men, in order to instruct them how they may live on friendly terms with one another, and partly for the sake of those who refuse to be instructed, whose spirit cannot be subdued, or softened, or hindered from plunging into evil. – Plato
“You know that the beginning is the most important part of any work, especially in the case of a young and tender thing; for that is the time at which the character is being formed and the desired impression is more readily taken….Shall we just carelessly allow children to hear any casual tales which may be devised by casual persons, and to receive into their minds ideas for the most part the very opposite of those which we should wish them to have when they are grown up? We cannot….Anything received into the mind at that age is likely to become indelible and unalterable; and therefore it is most important that the tales which the young first hear should be models of virtuous thoughts….” ― Plato
Never discourage anyone…who continually makes progress, no matter how slow. – Plato
“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” – Plato
“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” – Plato
“Do you desire to be wholly one; always day and night in one another’s company? For if this is what you desire, I am ready to melt and fuse you together, so that being two you shall become one, and while you live a common life as if you were a single man, and after your death in the world below still be one departed soul, instead of two….”― Plato
Was not this … what we spoke of as the great advantage of wisdom — to know what is known and what is unknown to us? – Plato
There is no such thing as a lover’s oath. – Plato
“But that we shall be better and braver and less helpless if we think that we ought to enquire, than we should have been if we indulged in the idle fancy that there was no knowing and no use in seeking to know what we do not know;—that is a theme upon which I am ready to fight, in word and deed, to the utmost of my power.”― Plato
Let every man remind their descendants that they also are soldiers who must not desert the ranks of their ancestors, or from cowardice fall behind. – Plato
“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” ― Plato
“Only the dead have seen the end of war.” – Plato
People are like dirt. They can either nourish you and help you grow as a person or they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die. – Plato
“The beginning is the most important part of the work.” – Plato
Death is not the worst that can happen to men. – Plato
“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation” – Plato
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” – Plato
There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot – Plato
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.” – Plato
If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things. – Plato
“There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot.” – Plato
Thinking is the talking of the soul with itself. – Plato
No one ever teaches well who wants to teach, or governs well who wants to govern. – Plato
Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. – Plato
The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life – Plato
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. – Plato
“I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.” – Plato
No human thing is of serious importance. – Plato
Democracy is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequal alike. – Plato
“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.” – Plato
There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands. – Plato
“Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.” – Plato
“We are twice armed if we fight with faith.” – Plato
Man…is a tame or civilized animal; never the less, he requires proper instruction and a fortunate nature, and then of all animals he becomes the most divine and most civilized; but if he be insufficiently or ill- educated he is the most savage of earthly creatures. – Plato
Sons, the event proves that your fathers were brave men; for we might have lived dishonourably, but have preferred to die honourably rather than bring you and your children into disgrace, and rather than dishonour our own fathers and forefathers; – Plato
The more the pleasures of the body fade away, the greater to me is the pleasure and charm of conversation. – Plato
“The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile.”― Plato
“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.” – Plato
He who commits injustice is ever made more wretched than he who suffers it – Plato
No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death. – Plato
“if you are willing to reflect on the courage and moderation of other people, you will find them strange…they all consider death a great evil…and the brave among them face death, when they do, for fear of greater evils…therefore, it is fear and terror that make all men brave, except for philosophers. yet it is illogical to be brave through fear and cowardice…what of the moderate among them? is their experience not similar?…they master certain pleasures because they are mastered by others…i fear this is not the right exchange to attain virtue, to exchange pleasures for pleasures, pains for pains, and fears for fears, the greater for the less like coins, but that they only valid currency for which all these things should be exchanged is wisdom.”― Plato
“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.” – Plato
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. – Plato
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