Ancient Greek Philosophers

The weak are always anxious for justice and equality. The strong pay no heed to either.

—Aristotle

All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right, and not what is established.

—Aristotle

Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.

—Aristotle

Wealth, and poverty; one is the parent of luxury and indolence, and the other of meanness and viciousness, and both of discontent.

—Plato

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

—Plato

For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories.

—Plato

Courage is knowing what not to fear.

—Plato

The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.

—Plato

Be kind.

Every person you meet is fighting a difficult battle.

—Plato

When men speak ill of thee, live so that nobody will believe them.

—Plato

There is truth in wine and children.

—Plato

How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?

—Plato

To suffer the penalty of too much haste, which is too little speed.

—Plato

According to Greek mythology, humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces.

Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.

—Plato

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

—Plato

A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is found among a thousand, but an accomplished one might not be found even among a hundred thousand men.

—Plato

We become what we contemplate.

—Plato

I’m trying to think, don’t confuse me with facts.

—Plato

Even the gods love jokes.

—Plato

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

—Plato

Man is a two-legged animal without feathers.

—Plato

The noblest of all studies is the study of what man is and of what life he should live.

—Plato

Who are the true philosophers? Those whose passion is to see the truth.

—Plato

The measure of a man is what he does with power.

—Plato

Virtue is a kind of health, beauty and good habit of the soul.

—Plato

Truth is the beginning of every good to the gods, and of every good to man.

—Plato

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.

—Plato

Books give a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.

—Plato

Stranger: There is a time when God guides the world in its course; and there is a time, on completing a cycle, when he lets go.

—Plato

Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed, by the masses.

—Plato