“Until philosophers rule as kings, or those now called kings and leading men genuinely and adequately philosophise, cities will have no rest from evils.”
Plato · Platonism
justicepowersociety
Paraphrase or translation
Philosopher
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Plato
c. 428–c. 348 BCE · Platonism · Ancient
Plato was an Athenian, born around 428 BCE into a family with political connections, and he died around 348. He was Socrates's student and Aristotle's teacher, and he founded the Academy, a lasting school rather than a modern university. He wrote dialogues. Socrates is usually the main speaker, which means a quotation from 'Plato' may be Socrates, or a character Plato means you to distrust, such as Thrasymachus or the comic Aristophanes of the Symposium.
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The Republic asks what justice is, in the soul and in a city, and answers with a severe programme: guardians, censored poetry, and philosophers who rule because they know the good. The cave, the divided line, and the form of the good are pieces of that answer, not separate inspirational images. The Phaedo, set on the day of Socrates's death, argues that philosophy is a training for dying.
The Symposium stages rival speeches about love. Plato is not a system dumped into slogans. He is an argument conducted in scenes. British spelling and Victorian translators, especially Jowett, fixed many of the sentences people still recite. A close translation such as Grube's will not always match the sentence on a poster.
Start here
Republic VI–VII, the cave and the remarks on education that follow it.
You see a single extended image doing philosophical work, and you can watch what happens if it is cropped into a caption.
Quotations
“Education is not what some people declare it to be, namely putting knowledge into souls that lack it, like putting sight into blind eyes.”
Plato · Platonism
knowledgemindchange
Paraphrase or translation
“Imitations, if continued from youth far into life, settle down into habits and nature, in body, speech, and thought.”
Plato · Platonism
virtueselfchange
Paraphrase or translation
“Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.”
Plato · Platonism
knowledgemind
Paraphrase or translation
“Those who practise philosophy in the right way are practising nothing other than dying and being dead.”
Plato · Platonism
deathknowledge
Paraphrase or translation
“Picture people living in an underground, cave-like dwelling, with a fire behind them.”
Plato · Platonism
knowledgesociety
Paraphrase or translation
“It is not the function of the just person to harm anyone.”
Plato · Platonism
justiceethics
Paraphrase or translation
“Justice is nothing other than the advantage of the stronger.”
Plato · Platonism
justicepower
Paraphrase or translation
“Love is the desire and pursuit of the whole.”
Plato · Platonism
loveself
Paraphrase or translation
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
Plato · Platonism
ethicslovesociety
Misattributed
Key ideas
Forms
The dialogues often argue that the things we can know stably are not the changing objects of the senses.
The just city and the just soul
The Republic builds an analogy between political order and the order of reason, spirit, and appetite in a person.
Education as turning
Learning, in the cave story, is a turning of the whole soul, not a transfer of information into an empty jar.
Dialogue, not treatise
A line's force depends on who says it and whether the conversation later pulls it apart.
Major works
Republic (c. 375 BCE)
A long dialogue on justice, education, and rule, containing the cave and the philosopher-king.
Phaedo (c. 380 BCE)
A dialogue on the soul, set on the day Socrates dies, which calls philosophy a practice of dying.
Symposium (c. 385 BCE)
Speeches on love, of which Aristophanes's myth and Socrates's later account are not the same view.
Theaetetus (c. 369 BCE)
A dialogue about what knowledge is, which ties philosophy's beginning to wonder.
Influences
- Socrates
- Parmenides
- Heraclitus
- Pythagorean mathematics
Influenced
Common misreadings
- 'Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle' is not in the dialogues.
- Thrasymachus's claim that justice is the advantage of the stronger is the view the Republic attacks.
Topic hubs
Famous lines Plato never said
Misattributed means the library does not treat the sentence as theirs. Questionable means there is a real doubt, which is not the same as a proof they never wrote it. Both are listed here.
- Misattributed
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
There is no such sentence in the dialogues. A close form, 'Be pitiful, for every man is fighting a hard battle', is associated with Ian Maclaren in the 1890s. Plato's name was added because kindness-plus-antiquity sounds Platonic. It is not.
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FAQ
What is the best book to start with?
Republic VI–VII, the cave and the remarks on education that follow it. You see a single extended image doing philosophical work, and you can watch what happens if it is cropped into a caption.
What is the most famous quote?
This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Plato that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “Until philosophers rule as kings, or those now called kings and leading men genuinely and adequately philosophise, cities will have no rest from evils.” (Plato, Republic 473c–d, Paraphrase or translation).
What is the most misquoted line?
The library marks this as Misattributed: “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” There is no such sentence in the dialogues. A close form, 'Be pitiful, for every man is fighting a hard battle', is associated with Ian Maclaren in the 1890s. Plato's name was added because kindness-plus-antiquity sounds Platonic. It is not.
What is one key idea, in a sentence?
Forms: The dialogues often argue that the things we can know stably are not the changing objects of the senses.