One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.
platoquotes
c. 423 – 348 BC
The Athenian philosopher, Plato (c. 423–348 BC), student to Socrates and teacher to Aristotle, left a legacy that stretches through the entire history of Western thought. With justice, beauty and equality being the main philosophized forms he wrote and taught about, Plato also paved the way for modern universities with the establishment of his Academy in Athens, which was known for its mathematic and scientific pursuits. His academy was sustained for three centuries after his death, until it was finally dismantled by Roman Emperor Justinian I, as it posed a threat to Christianity.
Finding that live debates offered more wisdom than written works due to their fluidity, Plato was still a literary artist when it came to capturing his dialogues in writing. Some of the deep questions asked and explored are: Can virtue be taught or is wisdom gained through recollection (Menos)? What are the parallels between the soul of a nation and the soul of an individual and how can we build a better government ruled by reasoning philosopher-kings (The Republic)?
Similar to his teacher, Socrates, Plato taught that the realm of ideas was more truthful and therefore superior to the deceptive world of the senses (Theory of Forms). Plato gave us an account of Socrates’ defense at his trial, which is one of the most important works of Western philosophy. Modern democracy has his ideas on human equality to thank, and scientific progress his adherence to mathematics as a basis for understanding the universe.
Haven’t you noticed that opinion without knowledge is always a poor thing? At the best it is blind — isn’t anyone who holds a true opinion without understanding like a blind man on the right road?
blind / knowledge / opinion / understanding
Men say that we ought not to enquire into the supreme God and the nature of the universe, nor busy ourselves in searching out the causes of things, and that such enquiries are impious; whereas the very opposite is the truth.
There is no necessity for the man who means to be an orator to understand what is really just but only what would appear so to the majority of those who will give judgment; and not what is really good or beautiful but whatever will appear so; because persuasion comes from that and not from the truth.
judgment / majority / persuasion / truth
The most important thing is not life, but the good life.
Yes, if he is to have true music in him.
Crito we owe a rooster to Aesculapius.
Aesculapius / Crito / owe
Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back.
Heart / incomplete / sings
The poet is a light and winged and holy thing, and there is no invention in him until he has been inspired and is out of his senses, and the mind is no longer in him.
Be kind. For everyone is fighting a hard battle.