Plato
Greek philosopher of the Classical period, student of Socrates, teacher of Aristotle, and founder of the Academy in Athens (c. 387 BCE) — the institution that would shape Western philosophy for nine hundred years. Born around 428/427 BCE into an aristocratic Athenian family, Plato came of age in a city traumatized by the Peloponnesian War, and was deeply marked by the trial and execution of Socrates in 399 BCE. From the establishment of the Academy onward, he wrote the dialogues that have been read continuously for two and a half millennia — the Apology, Phaedo, Symposium, Phaedrus, Meno, Republic, Theaetetus, Timaeus, Sophist, Statesman, Philebus, Laws, and dozens of others — through which he developed the Theory of Forms, the tripartite soul, the cardinal virtues, the philosopher-king, the allegory of the cave, the chariot of the soul, and the doctrine of recollection. Whitehead's quip that 'all of Western philosophy is footnotes to Plato' is, if anything, an understatement. He died in Athens around 348/347 BCE.
quotes in library
Quotes by Plato
105 quotes“He who is to be happy must possess truth.”
“The greatest penalty for evildoing — namely, to grow into the likeness of bad men.”
“And growing into that likeness, to shun the conversation of the good.”
“And to be cut off from them.”
“This is the chief disaster of the wicked.”
“In the allegory of the cave, the prisoners take the shadows for reality.”
“They have been chained from childhood. They know nothing else.”
“And through the beautiful, for the Good itself.”
“When one is freed and shown the fire and the figures that cast the shadows, his eyes hurt.”
“He wants to return to the shadows. They are familiar.”
“But if he is dragged out into the sunlight, he is at first blinded.”
“Slowly his eyes adjust. Then he sees the world as it is.”
“And he can never return to the cave with the same eyes.”
“This is the work of philosophy.”
“Until philosophers rule as kings, or those now called kings and chief men become genuine philosophers, cities will have no rest from evils.”
“Nor will the human race.”
“This is the most important truth in political philosophy.”
“Justice is the harmony of the soul.”
“It is each part of the soul performing its proper function in proper relation to the others.”
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