IB Philosophy Plato Quotes

The Luxurious City - “More plentiful and better-quality goods are more easily produced when each person does one thing for which he is naturally suited, and does it at the right time, and is relived of all other tasks”

Book 2 - 369b

Proper literary education, censoring fear of death - “and expose to mortal and immortal eyes the hateful chambers of decay that fill the gods themselves with horror”

Book 3 - 386d

Proper literary education, censoring deception and lying - “And is any citizen lies to rulers, we shall regard it as a still graver offence than it is for a patient to lie to his doctor, or an athlete to lie to his trainer about his physical condition, or for a sailor to misinterpret his captain any matter concerning the ship or crew, or the state of himself or his fellow sailors”

Book 3 - 389c

Proper literary education, censoring excessive emotion - “…we do not want our guardians to be too fond of laughter either. Indulgence in violent laughter commonly invites violent reaction”

Book 3 - 389a

Purpose of Education in the City - “is why this stage of education is crucial. For rhythm and harmony penetrate deeply into the mind and take a most powerful hold on it, and, if education is good, bring and impart grace and beauty, if it is bad, the reverse”

Book 3 - 401e

Physical Training - “They must be as wakeful as watchdogs, their sight and hearing must be the keenest, and their health must not be too delicate to endure the many changes in the water they drink and in the rest of their diet and the varieties of temperature that campaigning entails”

Book 3 - 404b

The Noble Lie - “I shall try to persuade first the Rulers and the Soldiers, and then the rest of the community, that the upbringing and education we have given them wasd all something that happened to them only in a dream. In reality they were fashioned and reared, and their arms and equipment manufactured, in the depths of the earth, and the earth herself, their mother brought them up, when they were complete, into the light of day; so now they must think of the land in which they live as their mother and protect her if she is attacked, while their fellow citizens they must regard as brother born of the same mother earth.”

Book 3 - 414d and e

Virtues in the Just City and Soul, Wisdom - “So the state founded on natural principles is wise as a while in virtue of knowledge inherent in its smallest constituent part or class, which exercises authority over the rest. And it appears that the naturally smallest class is the one that is endowed with that form of knowledge which alone of all others deserves the title of wisdom”

Book 4 - 429a

Virtues in the Just City and Soul, Moderation - “self-discipline…produces harmony between its strongest and weakest and middle elements, whether you measure by the standard of intelligence, or of strength, or of numbers or money or the like.”

Book 4 - (432a)

Women and Family - “Tell us how you think our Guardians are to have wives and children in common, and how the children are to be looked after between their birth and the beginning of their education, which everyone agrees is the most difficult stage”

Book 5 - 450c