Plato (428 BC–348 BC): Athenian philosopher. The library holds 62 quotes by Plato, drawn from Interpreted by Ruskin, To the Cynic. The 60 below are the most quoted; search the library in the maker for the rest.
He who intends to be a great man ought to love neither himself nor his own things, but only what is just, whether it happens to be done by himself or by another.
The things that destroy us are injustice, insolence, and foolish thoughts; and the things which save us are justice, self-command, and true thought, which things dwell in the loving powers of the gods.
Health, beauty, vigor, riches, and all the other things called goods, operate equally as evils to the vicious and unjust as they do as benefits to the just.
Whoso, without poetic frenzy, knocks at the doors of the Muses, presuming that his art alone will suffice to make him a poet, both he and his poetry are hopelessly thrown away.
Wisdom alone is the true and unalloyed coin for which we ought to exchange all things, for this and with this everything is bought and sold—fortitude, temperance, and justice; in a word, true virtue subsists with wisdom.
Such a genius as philosophers must of necessity have is wont but seldom, in all its parts, to meet in one man; but its different parts generally spring up in different persons.
Education is the constraining and directing of youth towards that right reason which the law affirms, and which the experience of the best of our elders has sanctioned as truly great.
Do not train boys to learning by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be the better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.
For ignorance of all things is an evil neither terrible nor excessive, nor yet the greatest of all; but great cleverness and much learning, if they be accompanied by a bad training is a much greater misfortune.
He who has not been a servant cannot become a praiseworthy master; it is meet that we should plume ourselves rather on acting the part of a servant properly than that of the master, first towards the laws, and next towards our elders.
Just as gymnastic exercise is necessary to keep the body healthy, so is musical exercise necessary to keep the soul healthy; the proper nourishment of the intellect and passions can no more take place without music than the proper functions of the stomach and the blood without exercise.
If a man says that it is right to give every one his due, and therefore thinks within his own mind that injury is due from a just man to his enemies but kindness to his friends, he was not wise who said so, for he spoke not the truth, for in no case has it appeared to be just to injure any one.