The Platonist

Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times

The Best Plato Quotes, Sourced and Organised by Theme

Plato is one of the most quoted — and most misquoted — thinkers in history. The collection below sticks to lines that appear in the dialogues, with a citation for each, organised by topic. At the end you'll find a section on the famous quotes Plato never actually wrote.

References use the standard Stephanus pagination: a number and a letter (e.g. Republic 514a) that refer to a specific page and section in any modern edition of Plato's works.

On Knowledge and Wisdom

"I know that I know nothing." — Apology 21d (paraphrase). What Socrates actually says is that the man he questioned thought he knew something but did not, "while I, equally ignorant, do not believe that I know either. So I am wiser than he is by only this trifle, that what I do not know I do not think I know."
"The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being." — Apology 38a
"Wonder is the beginning of philosophy." — Theaetetus 155d (often given as "philosophy begins in wonder")
"No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth." — Republic, Book VII (paraphrasing the prisoner's reception on returning to the cave)
"There is no learning, then, but only recollection." — Meno 81d

For more on what knowledge means for Plato, see our pages on the Theory of Forms and the Allegory of the Cave.

On Justice and the Good

"It is better to suffer wrong than to do it." — Gorgias 469c
"The greatest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone worse." — Republic 347c
"Justice in the soul is like health in the body." — Republic 444d (paraphrase)
"The beginning is the most important part of the work." — Republic 377a

See our guide to the Republic for context on Plato's account of justice.

On Love and Beauty

"Love is the desire of the whole." — Symposium 192e–193a (paraphrasing Aristophanes' speech on the original double-beings)
"He whom love touches not walks in darkness." — Symposium 197a (Agathon's speech)
"Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity." — Republic 400e–401a (paraphrase)

Plato's account of love — from physical attraction to the love of Beauty itself — is developed at length in the Symposium.

On the Soul

"The soul takes nothing with her to the next world but her education and her culture." — Phaedo 107d (paraphrase)
"The body is the prison of the soul." — Phaedo 62b, 82e (the doctrine, not a verbatim quotation)
"The greatest victory is the victory over self; to be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and most evil." — Laws 626e

For more, see our page on Plato's tripartite soul.

On Education

"Do not train children in learning by force and 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." — Republic 537a (paraphrase)
"The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life." — Republic 425b (paraphrase)
"Education is not the filling of a vessel but the kindling of a flame." — commonly attributed to Plato but actually a paraphrase of Plutarch (On Listening to Lectures 48c). It captures something Plato believed; the wording is not his.

On Politics and Society

"Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy... cities will never have rest from their evils." — Republic 473d (slightly compressed)
"Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy." — Republic 564a
"Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber." — loose modern paraphrase of Republic 347c. Often quoted in this snappy form; the underlying point is genuinely Plato's.

On Death and the End of Life

"To fear death, gentlemen, is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does not know." — Apology 29a
"Death is one of two things. Either it is annihilation, and the dead have no consciousness of anything, or, as we are told, it is really a change — a migration of the soul from this place to another." — Apology 40c
"We are like men looking for gold in the dark; we know that what we wish for is somewhere, but we cannot see it clearly." — Phaedo 99c (paraphrase)

The trial and death of Socrates are recounted in the Apology, the Crito, and the Phaedo.

Quotes Plato Did Not Actually Say

The internet has assigned a lot of greeting-card wisdom to Plato. Here are the most common false attributions:

  • "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." Not Plato. The line is by Ian MacLaren, a Scottish minister, around 1897.
  • "Only the dead have seen the end of war." Not Plato. George Santayana wrote it in 1922 and it was later misattributed.
  • "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything." Not Plato. Origin unknown but modern.
  • "Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something." Not Plato. Closer to a sentiment in the dialogues but the phrasing is a 19th- or 20th-century invention.
  • "Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel." A loose paraphrase of Plutarch, not Plato.

If you find a Plato quote online without a source, treat it as suspect. Real Plato quotes can almost always be cited to a specific dialogue and Stephanus number.