Does it not seem to you that I have been preparing for it all my life? [...] By living without committing the slightest injustice, which is, in my eyes, the most beautiful way to prepare a defense.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
Platon
Plato (c. 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was an Athenian philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece, founder of the Platonist school of thought, and the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world.
Do you not see that the courts [...], offended by a defense, have often put innocent men to death, and often acquitted the guilty whose words had moved their pity or flattered their ears?
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
Twice already I have tried to prepare a defense, and my daimon has opposed it.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
Why be surprised [...] if divinity judges it more advantageous for me to leave this life at this very moment?
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
For I feel well, which is the sweetest thought, that I have lived my whole life in piety and justice.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
If I advance in age, I know I will necessarily have to pay my tribute to old age; my sight will weaken, my hearing will diminish, my intellect will decline...
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
If I perceive this loss of my faculties, and I become displeasing to myself, how could I still find pleasure in living?
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
Perhaps [...] it is out of benevolence that God grants me [...] the ability to end my life not only at the most suitable time, but also in the least painful way.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
When one passes away with a healthy body and a soul full of tenderness, how could one not be an object of regret?
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
I would rather die than slavishly beg for my life and be granted an existence far more dreadful than death.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
If, by freely stating [...] the opinion I have of myself, I am to offend the judges, I would rather die.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
I have found that all those who associated with me had the same opinion of me.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.
c. 375 BC
Source: The Republic
The beginning is the most important part of the work.
c. 375 BC
Source: The Republic
Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance.
c. 375 BC
Source: The Republic
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.
c. 375 BC
Source: The Republic
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.
c. 375 BC
Source: The Republic
The measure of a man is what he does with power.
c. 375 BC
Source: The Republic
The object of education is to teach us to love what is beautiful.
c. 375 BC
Source: The Republic
No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth.
c. 375 BC
Source: The Republic
If a man neglects education, he walks lame to the end of his life.
c. 375 BC
Source: The Republic
Thinking: the talking of the soul with itself.
c. 375 BC
Source: The Republic
Justice [...] means minding one's own business and not meddling with other men's concerns.
c. 375 BC
Source: The Republic
Excess of liberty, whether it be in states or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery.
c. 375 BC
Source: The Republic
The city is what it is because our citizens are what they are.
c. 375 BC
Source: The Republic
Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood [...] by the masses.
c. 375 BC
Source: The Republic
Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul.
c. 375 BC
Source: The Republic
Education makes good men, and good men do noble deeds.
c. 387 BC
Source: Menexenus
Our political constitution is an aristocracy, which has the approval of the multitude.
c. 387 BC
Source: Menexenus
It is equality of origin that compels us to seek an equality founded on law.
c. 387 BC
Source: Menexenus
One must [...] obey the magistrates and the laws, especially the laws [...] established for the protection of the oppressed.
c. 387 BC
Source: Menexenus
Everyone must strive to live as honorably as possible and not dishonor the reputation of their ancestors.
c. 387 BC
Source: Menexenus
Wealth should not give rise to pride, nor to idleness; it should only be an instrument in the service of virtue.
c. 387 BC
Source: Menexenus
For one who has done beautiful things, it is also beautiful to hear them spoken of.
c. 387 BC
Source: Menexenus
Hatred and envy depart with life, and it is especially among the dead that they cease.
c. 387 BC
Source: Menexenus
We hold from our nature a hatred for servitude and a love for liberty.
c. 387 BC
Source: Menexenus
One must exhort the living to imitate the virtue of the dead and to console their descendants.
c. 387 BC
Source: Menexenus
Good upbringing and education, these are the sources of virtue.
c. 387 BC
Source: Menexenus
No one should, for the love of life, resolve to live in servitude.
c. 387 BC
Source: Menexenus
If a man is willing to remain at his post and to defend himself against the enemy without running away, you may be sure that he is a man of courage.
c. 380 BC
Source: Laches
I was not asking you only about the courage of infantry [...], but of all kinds of soldiers; and not only in war, but also in the face of perils by sea, disease, and poverty...
c. 380 BC
Source: Laches
[Courage] seems to me to be a sort of endurance of the soul, if I am to speak of the universal nature which pervades them all.
c. 380 BC
Source: Laches
Do you always call this kind of endurance, this foolish endurance, a fine and good thing?
c. 380 BC
Source: Laches
Then, it seems, it is a wise endurance which would be courage.
c. 380 BC
Source: Laches
Each of us is good in that in which he is wise, and bad in that in which he is unwise.
c. 380 BC
Source: Laches
It seems to me that courage is the knowledge of what is to be feared and what is to be hoped for, both in war and in all other circumstances.
c. 380 BC
Source: Laches
Fear [...] is nothing other than the expectation of an evil.
c. 380 BC
Source: Laches
The seer knows the signs of what will come to pass, [...] but whether it is better for us that this should happen or not is for another to judge.
c. 380 BC
Source: Laches
Therefore, what you are describing is not a part of virtue, but virtue as a whole.
c. 380 BC
Source: Laches
Knowledge, whether it deals with the past, the present, or the future, is always the same.
c. 380 BC
Source: Laches
We have failed in our inquiry and have not found what courage is.
c. 380 BC
Source: Laches
I am of the opinion that the best thing [...] is for all of us to seek out the best possible teacher together, first for ourselves, for we are in the greatest need of one.
c. 380 BC
Source: Laches
For my part, I am ready to learn with the children, without worrying about my age or my reputation.
c. 380 BC
Source: Laches
One should judge people by their deeds rather than their words.
c. 380 BC
Source: Laches
If we are unable to hunt the good with one idea, we will hunt it with three: beauty, proportion, and truth.
c. 360 BC
Source: Philebus
[Thought] is a dialogue that the soul holds with itself about the objects it examines.
c. 360 BC
Source: Philebus
Any mixture whatsoever [...] absolutely requires measure and proportion, otherwise it is not a mixture, but a confusion.
c. 360 BC
Source: Philebus
Nothing good or beautiful can exist without measure.
c. 360 BC
Source: Philebus
Is opinion always true, or sometimes true and sometimes false?
c. 360 BC
Source: Philebus
All that exists in the universe is the product of the mixture of the infinite and the finite.
c. 360 BC
Source: Philebus
Without reason, it is impossible to opine, whether well, or badly, or anything at all.
c. 360 BC
Source: Philebus
There are then in the soul, it seems, false pleasures, which only ridiculously imitate the true ones [...].
c. 360 BC
Source: Philebus
Is not pleasure most often an absence of pain?
c. 360 BC
Source: Philebus
Neither intelligence nor pleasure can be the good, if they are lacking something.
c. 360 BC
Source: Philebus
All pleasure and all pain are born in the soul.
c. 360 BC
Source: Philebus
To live without committing the slightest injustice is, in my eyes, the most beautiful way to prepare my defense.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
The courts [...] have often put the innocent to death, and often acquitted the guilty whose language had moved their pity or flattered their ears.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
Why be surprised [...] if the divinity judges it more advantageous for me to leave life at this very moment?
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
I have lived my entire life in piety and justice; so that, feeling a keen admiration for myself, I have found that all those who associated with me had the same opinion of me.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
If I advance in age, I know that I must necessarily pay my tribute to old age; my sight will weaken, I will hear less well, my intelligence will decline [...].
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
If I become aware of this loss of my faculties, and I displease myself, how could I still find pleasure in living?
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
Perhaps [...] it is out of benevolence that the god grants me [...] to end my life not only at the most suitable time, but in the least painful way.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
A death is considered [...] the easiest, one that inconveniences friends the least and causes them the most regret for the deceased.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
When one passes away with a body full of health and a soul full of tenderness, how could one not be an object of regret?
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
[...] old age upon which all infirmities converge, and that without any relief.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
I would rather die than slavishly beg for life and be granted an existence much more dreadful than death.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
If, by freely expressing [...] the opinion I have of myself, I must offend the judges, I would rather die [...].
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
Moderate exercises promote health.
End of the 4th century BC
Source: The Rivals (Cousin translation)
The philosopher is to artists what a pentathlete is to a runner or a wrestler.
End of the 4th century BC
Source: The Rivals (Cousin translation)
The art that applies to one, applies to many, and reciprocally.
End of the 4th century BC
Source: The Rivals (Cousin translation)
[The art of] persuading one is similar to [that of] persuading the many.
End of the 4th century BC
Source: The Rivals (Cousin translation)
By living without committing the slightest injustice, which is, in my eyes, the most beautiful way to prepare a defense.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
Why be surprised [...] if the divinity judges it more advantageous for me to leave this life at this very moment?
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
I feel well, which is the sweetest thought, that I have lived my whole life in piety and justice.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
If I grow older, I know that I will necessarily have to pay my tribute to old age; my sight will weaken, I will hear less well, my intelligence will decline [...].
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
I would rather die than slavishly beg for my life and be granted an existence far more dreadful than death.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
Who then could you reasonably consider more just than a man who has adapted to his present fortune, to the point of never needing what belongs to others?
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
From the moment I began to understand human language, I have never ceased to seek and to learn all the good I could.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
While others buy the objects of their pleasures at great expense [...], I procure for myself, without spending anything, the pleasures of the soul, which are purer [...].
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
By setting [the fine], it would be to admit guilt.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
As I suffer an unjust death, [...] the shame does not fall upon me, but upon those who have condemned me.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
I am sure that the future [...] will bear me this testimony, that I have never wronged anyone, nor ever made anyone more vicious.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
Did you not know long ago that at the very moment of my birth, nature had pronounced my death sentence?
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
Would you then prefer to see me die justly rather than unjustly?
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
[The one] [...] who has never ceased his whole life to do useful and honest deeds, is truly the victor.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates
If there exists among men enamored with virtue anyone who has lived with a more useful man than Socrates, I regard him as the most fortunate of men.
4th century BC
Source: Apology of Socrates