Poems List

The true order of going, or being led by another, to the things of love, is to begin from the beauties of earth and mount upwards for the sake of that other beauty, using these steps only, and from one going on to two, and from two to all fair forms to fair practices, and from fair practices to fair notions, until from fair notions he arrives at the notion of absolute beauty, and, at last, knows what the essence of beauty is.
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The truth is, O men of Athens, that God only is wise; and by his answer he intends to show that the wisdom of men is worth little or nothing.
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The whole life of the philosopher is a preparation for death.
The true lover of knowledge naturally strives for truth, and is not content with common opinion, but soars with undimmed and unwearied passion till he grasps the essential nature of things.
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The wise man will want to be ever with him who is better than himself.
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The worst type of man behaves as badly in his waking life as some men do in their dreams.
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The thing to be done does not choose, I imagine, to tarry the leisure of the doer, but the doer must be at the beck of the thing to be done, and not treat it as a secondary affair.
The State which we have founded must possess the four cardinal virtues of wisdom, courage, discipline and justice ... Justice is the principle which has in fact been followed throughout, the principle of one man one job, of minding ones own business, in the sense of doing the job for which one is naturally fitted and not interfering with other people.
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The soul takes nothing with her to the next world but her education and her culture. At the beginning of the journey to the next world, one's education and culture can either provide the greatest assistance, or else act as the greatest burden, to the person who has just died.
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The soul of him who has education is whole and perfect and escapes the worst disease, but, if a man's education be neglected, he walks lamely through life and returns good for nothing to the world below.
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Plato (c. 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was an Athenian philosopher who, along with his mentor Socrates and his student Aristotle, laid the foundations of Western and Greek philosophy. His best-known work is the Theory of Forms, according to which the sensible world is an imperfect copy of an intelligible world, of Forms or Ideas. Plato wrote numerous philosophical dialogues, in which Socrates is usually the main interlocutor. He founded the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. His ideas profoundly influenced philosophy, theology, science, and politics. He is considered one of the greatest thinkers of all time.