Plato (Plátōn, "broad"; 424/423 BC – 348/347 BC) was a philosopher in Classical Greece. He was also a mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and science.
Plato's sophistication as a writer is evident in his Socratic dialogues; thirty-six dialogues and thirteen letters have been ascribed to him. Plato's writings have been published in several fashions; this has led to several conventions regarding the naming and referencing of Plato's texts. Plato's dialogues have been used to teach a range of subjects, including philosophy, logic, ethics, rhetoric, and mathematics. Plato is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy.
Neath This Tall Pine
Neath this tall pine,
That to the zephyr sways and murmurs low,
Mayst thou recline,
While near thee cooling waters flow.
This flute of mine
Shall pipe the softest song it knows to sing,
And to thy charmèd eyelids sleep will bring.
There is no harm in repeating a good thing.
Much sleep is not required by nature, either for our souls or bodies, or for the actions in which they are concerned.
The only real ill-doing is the deprivation of knowledge.
He who steals a little steals with the same wish as he who steals much, but with less power.
And what, Socrates, is the food of the soul? Surely, I said, knowledge is the food of the soul.
[The Cretans have] more wit than words.
Fly from the company of the wicked—fly and turn not back.
Then not only an old man, but also a drunkard, becomes a second time a child.
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.
The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men.
Injustice is censured because the censures are afraid of suffering, and not from any fear which they have of doing injustice.
And may we not say, Adeimantus, that the most gifted minds, when they are ill- educated, become the worst?
Let brother help brother.
It is clear to everyone that astronomy at all events compels the soul to look upwards, and draws it from the things of this world to the other.
Poets utter great and wise things which they do not themselves understand.