We do not learn; and what we call learning is only a process of recollection.

Courage is a kind of salvation.

Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men.

Attention to health is life's greatest hindrance.

All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by one Workman; and however we deceive ourselves, as dear unto God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince.

Knowledge is true opinion.

And what, Socrates, is the food of the soul? Surely, I said, knowledge is the food of the soul.

No one is a friend to his friend who does not love in return.

Knowledge without justice ought to be called cunning rather than wisdom.

The good is the beautiful.

When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing more to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.

We are twice armed if we fight with faith.

He who steals a little steals with the same wish as he who steals much, but with less power.

Death is not the worst that can happen to men.

Thinking: the talking of the soul with itself.

Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue.

Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous.

Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the Gods.

Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.

A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.

Justice in the life and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens.

Democracy... is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.

Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence.

For the introduction of a new kind of music must be shunned as imperiling the whole state; since styles of music are never disturbed without affecting the most important political institutions.

Entire ignorance is not so terrible or extreme an evil, and is far from being the greatest of all; too much cleverness and too much learning, accompanied with ill bringing-up, are far more fatal.

He who is of calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden.

Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety.

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.

The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depends upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation, the man of manly character and of wisdom.

Must not all things at the last be swallowed up in death?

Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.

Those who intend on becoming great should love neither themselves nor their own things, but only what is just, whether it happens to be done by themselves or others.

It is right to give every man his due.

Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.

For good nurture and education implant good constitutions.

Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance.

Apply yourself both now and in the next life. Without effort, you cannot be prosperous. Though the land be good, You cannot have an abundant crop without cultivation.

Injustice is censured because the censures are afraid of suffering, and not from any fear which they have of doing injustice.

Philosophy is the highest music.

There are three classes of men; lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain.

I would fain grow old learning many things.

Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.

Our object in the construction of the state is the greatest happiness of the whole, and not that of any one class.

The blame is his who chooses: God is blameless.

No man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nature and education.

If a man neglects education, he walks lame to the end of his life.

Whatever deceives men seems to produce a magical enchantment.

The god of love lives in a state of need. It is a need. It is an urge. It is a homeostatic imbalance. Like hunger and thirst, it's almost impossible to stamp out.

Better a little which is well done, than a great deal imperfectly.

The learning and knowledge that we have, is, at the most, but little compared with that of which we are ignorant.

Love is a serious mental disease.

Then not only custom, but also nature affirms that to do is more disgraceful than to suffer injustice, and that justice is equality.

No one knows whether death, which people fear to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good.

I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.

There is no harm in repeating a good thing.

Nothing can be more absurd than the practice that prevails in our country of men and women not following the same pursuits with all their strengths and with one mind, for thus, the state instead of being whole is reduced to half.

They certainly give very strange names to diseases.

The most important part of education is proper training in the nursery.

Justice means minding one's own business and not meddling with other men's concerns.

Democracy passes into despotism.

The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life.

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, are a much greater misfortune.

The beginning is the most important part of the work.

When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody may believe them.

There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands.

Science is nothing but perception.

Wisdom alone is the science of other sciences.

The greatest wealth is to live content with little.

The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men.

Excess generally causes reaction, and produces a change in the opposite direction, whether it be in the seasons, or in individuals, or in governments.

We are twice armed if we fight with faith.

Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.

There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot.

Courage is knowing what not to fear.

No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death.