The Sayings of Plato


To a man who has any sense at all, no question can be more serious than the way of human life.

If there were a knowledge which was able to make men immortal without giving them knowledge of the way to use that immortality, there would be no use in it.

Both formerly and now, animals transmigrate into each other, changing by virtue of loss or acquisition of intellect and folly.

There is a madness, I mean love, which is a divine gift, and the source of the chiefest blessings granted to man.

All arts are on the watch against excess and defect, which are real evils, and occasion difficulties in action. The excellence of beauty in every work of art is due to this observance of measure.

Few persons, upon seeing the misfortunes of others, ever reflect that the evil of other men communicates something of evil to themselves. The same may be said of the other affections such as desire, pain, and pleasure.

Do to others as you would that they should do to you. In spite of this precept, however, evils can never pass away, for there must always remain something antagonistic to good.

He is under a delusion who thinks that a man upon growing old may learn many things. At that time, he can no more learn much as he can run much. Youth is the time for any extraordinary toil. 1

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