Plato (approximately 427 – 347 BC) was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens.

1854. False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.

1855. First and best victory is to conquer self. To be conquered by self is, of all things the most shameful and objectionable.

1857. For all good and evil, whether in the body or in human nature, originates in the soul, and overflows from thence, as from the head into the eyes.

1858. Good actions can strengthen ourselves and inspire good actions to others.

1859. Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.

1860. He best keeps from anger who remembers that God is always looking upon him.

1861. Harmony is a symphony, and symphony is an agreement; but an agreement of disagreements while they disagree there cannot be; you cannot harmonize that which disagrees.

1780. Even the gods love jokes.

1781. Everyone seeks his half.

1782. Everything desires not like but unlike: for example, the dry desires the moist, the cold the hot, the bitter the sweet, the sharp the blunt, the void the full, the fill the void, and so of all other things.

1783. Excellence of understanding comes from something divine, whereas the other excellences are probably close to the body.

1784. “Excellence” is not a gift, but a skill that takes practice. We do not act "rightly" because we are "excellent", in fact we achieve "excellence" by acting "rightly".

1785. Excess generally causes reaction, and produces a change in the opposite direction, whether it be in the seasons,or in individuals, or in governments.

1786. Excess of liberty, whether it lies in state or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery.

1684. Don’t force your children into your ways, for they were created for a time different from your own.

1685. Each person must tend to the business that accords with his nature.

1686. Either never, or very seldom, do the quiet actions in life appear to be better than the quick and energetic ones.

1687. Excellence must be the health and wellbeing of the soul.

1688. Eat and drink and sit with the mighty, and make yourself agreeable to them; for from the good you will learn what is good, but if you mix with the bad you will lose the intelligence which you already have.

1689. Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song.

1690. Every king springs from a race of slaves, and every slave had kings among his ancestors.

1624. Complacent ignorance is the most lethal sickness of the soul.

1625. Courage is a kind of salvation. Courage is knowing what not to fear.

1626. Death is not the worst that can happen to men.

1627. Democracy is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequal alike.

1628. Democracy passes into despotism.

1629. Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty.

1630. 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.

1499. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.

1500. Because people want more and more possessions, they start wanting more money, and thus honor money more and excellence less. Accordingly, the wealthy become more honored, and the people of excellence less honored.

1501. With the majority now money-loving businessmen instead of lovers of victory and honor, the admirable rich men will be put into office, and the poor will be dishonored.

1502. Better a little which is well done, than a great deal imperfectly.

1503. By harming a horse, you decrease his excellence. Thus, by harming a person, you decrease their excellence.

1504. Certainly we shall have to look to ourselves, and try to find someone who will help in some way or other to improve us.

1505. Character is simply habit long continued.

1492. Are you not ashamed that you give your attention to acquiring as much money as possible, and similarly with reputation and honor, and give no attention or thought to truth and understanding and the perfection of your soul?

1493. As the builders say, the larger stones do not lie well without the lesser.

1494. As it is, the lover of inquiry must follow his beloved wherever it may lead him.

1495. As there are misanthropists, or haters of men, there are also misologists, or haters of ideas, and both spring from the same cause, which is ignorance of the world.

1496. Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another.

1497. Atheism is a disease of the soul before it becomes an error of understanding.

1498. He whom love touches not walks in darkness

1462. All I really know is the extent of my own ignorance.

1463. All is flux, nothing stays still.

1464. All knowledge, when separated from justice and virtue, is seen to be cunning and not wisdom.

1465. All the gold which is under or upon the earth is not enough to give in exchange for virtue.

1466. All things will be produced in superior quantity and quality, and with greater ease, when each man works at a single occupation, in accordance with his natural gifts, and at the right moment, without meddling with anything else.

1467. Always be kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle.

1468. Any city however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich. They are at war with one another.

1469. Wonder is the only beginning of philosophy.

1433. A house that has a library in it has a soul.

1434. There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot.

1435. A life without investigation is not worth living.

1436. A man ought not to return evil for evil, as many think, since at no time ought we to do an injury to our neighbor.

1437. A principle which has any soundness should stand firm not only just now, but always.

1438. A sensible man will remember that the eyes may be confused in two ways - by a change from light to darkness or from darkness to light; and he will recognize that the same thing happens to the soul.

1439. Age isn't easy for a goodman if he's poor, nor will a bad man ever be cheerful with himself even if he's rich.

1440. All enquiry and all learning is but recollection.

1416. A city whose future rulers are the least eager to rule will necessarily be the best governed and freest from strife, and the one with opposite rulers the worst.

1417. A freeman ought not to be a slave in the acquisition of knowledge of any kind. Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.

1418. A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.

1419. A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is found among a thousand, but an accomplished one might not be found even among a hundred thousand men.

1420. A library of wisdom, is more precious than all wealth, and all things that are desirable cannot be compared to it. Whoever therefore claims to be zealous of truth, of happiness, of wisdom or knowledge, must become a lover of books.

701. For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories.

703. Any man may easily do harm, but not every man can do good to another.

704. Attention to health is life’s greatest hindrance.

705. We are twice armed if we fight with faith.

706. Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil.

707. The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life.

708. No man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nature and education.

709. ”No law or ordinance is mightier than understanding.

544. The greatest wealth is to live content with little.

545. Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.

546. Wonder is the feeling of the philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.

547. 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.

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

549. Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.

550. As the builders say, the larger stones do not lie well without the lesser.

551. He who is not a good servant will not be a good master.

336. Pleasure is the greatest incentive to evil.

337. I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.

338. A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.

339. False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.

340. 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.

341. Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance.

342. If a man neglects education, he walks lame to the end of his life.

343. Writing is the geometry of the soul.

69. Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.

70. 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.

71. Love is a serious mental disease.

72. A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is found among a thousand, but an accomplished one might not be found even among a hundred thousand men. "

73. Only the dead have seen the end of war.

74. At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet.

75. There are three classes of men; lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain. "

76. Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous. "

77. Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety. "