Plato 428 BC – 348 BC
Plato was an Athenian philosopher and the founder of the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. A student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle, he wrote dialogues exploring justice, beauty, knowledge, and the nature of reality. His theory of Forms posits a realm of perfect, immutable abstractions underlying the changing physical world. The Republic, Phaedo, and Symposium remain among the most influential texts in philosophy. His thought defined the agenda of metaphysics and political theory for centuries.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Greek
- Era
- Ancient
- Movements
- Platonism, Ancient Greek
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Plato:
“The beginning is the most important part of the work.”
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Attributed to Plato:
“Necessity is the mother of invention.”
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Attributed to Plato:
“Philosophy begins in wonder.”
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Attributed to Plato:
“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.”
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Attributed to Plato:
“Justice means minding one's own business and not meddling with other men's concerns.”
Quotes that are not actually from Plato
These lines are widely circulated as Plato, but they do not appear in Plato's works. Each entry below identifies the actual source.
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“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
This line was written by the Scottish minister and author John Watson, under the pen name Ian MacLaren, in an 1897 Christmas message published in The British Weekly. The original phrasing was 'Be pitiful, for every man is fighting a hard battle.' It has been misattributed to Plato, Socrates, Philo of Alexandria, and others, but does not appear in any of their works.
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“Only the dead have seen the end of war.”
This line appears in George Santayana's Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies (1922). The misattribution to Plato was popularised in part by the 2001 film Black Hawk Down, which displays the line on screen as a quote from Plato. It does not appear in any of Plato's dialogues.
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“Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.”
This aphorism is widely circulated as Plato but does not appear in any of his dialogues. Its earliest verifiable English-language appearances are in 20th-century quotation compilations, with no underlying classical source identified.