A democracy is a state in which the poor, gaining the upper hand, kill some and banish others, and then divide the offices among the remaining citizens equally, usually by lot. Plato More Quotes by Plato More Quotes From Plato To do injustice is the greatest of all evils. Plato injusticeeviljustice Mankind will never see an end of trouble until lovers of wisdom come to hold political power, or the holders of power become lovers of wisdom Plato politicspoliticalwitty Is it not the excess and greed of this and the neglect of all other things that revolutionizes this constitution too and prepares the way for the necessity of a dictatorship? Plato excessgreeddemocracy A good decision is based on knowledge, and not on numbers. Plato businessplatowisdom Arguments derived from probabilities are idle. Plato idleprobabilityargument The principles are important. First, the interest of the state or society counts for everything, that of the individual for nothing. Second, the only difference between men and women is one of physical function- one begets, the other bears children. Apart from that, they both can and should perform the same functions - though men on a whole, perform them better and should receive the same education to enable them to do so; for in this way society will get the best value from both. Plato differencesmenchildren For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories... The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile. Plato greatest-victorysuccessmen Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty. Plato democracies-havepoliticalplato Each citizen should play his part in the community according to his individual gifts. Plato citizenscommunityplay The good is the beautiful. Plato philosophicalbeautifulbeauty The essence of knowledge is self-knowledge. Plato self-knowledgeessenceself Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance. Plato philosophicalignoranceplato The rulers of the state are the only persons who ought to have the privilege of lying, either at home or abroad; they may be allowed to lie for the good of the state. Plato homemaylying As the builders say, the larger stones do not lie well without the lesser. Plato wellsstoneslying And is there anything more closely connected with wisdom than truth? Plato words-of-wisdomconnected To prefer evil to good is not in human nature; and when a man is compelled to choose one of two evils, no one will choose the greater when he might have the less. Plato evilmentwo As the government is, such will be the man. Plato he-mangovernmentmen Better a little which is well done, than a great deal imperfectly. Plato excellenceplatoperfection No one punishes the evil-doer under the notion, or for the reason, that he has done wrong -- only the unreasonable fury of a beast acts in that way. But he who desires to inflict rational punishment does not retaliate for a past wrong, for that which is done cannot be undone, but he has regard to the future, and is desirous that the man who is punished, and he who sees him punished, may be deterred from doing wrong again. Plato evilmenpast Then may we not fairly plead in reply that our 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 with the mental faculty fitted to do so, that is, with the faculty which is akin to reality, and which approaches and unites with it, and begets intelligence and truth as children, and is only released from travail when it has thus reached knowledge and true life and satisfaction? Plato passionchildrenreality
