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Plato

Quote of Plato - We must observe that in each...


Biography - Plato:

Greek philosopher (Approximate years of birth and death).
Born: -428 - Died: -348
Period:
4th century BC
5th century BC
Place of birth: Greece
Greece

We must observe that in each one of us there are two ruling and leading principles, which we follow whithersoever they lead; one is the innate desire for pleasures, the other an acquired opinion which strives for the best. These two sometimes agree within us and are sometimes in strife; and sometimes one, and sometimes the other has the greater power.


Note 

Note






Translation

Translation

(French, German)



French
Il faut considérer que nous avons en nous deux principes qui nous gouvernent et nous dirigent, dont l'impulsion, quelle qu'elle soit, détermine nos mouvements : l'un est le désir inné du plaisir ; l'autre le goût réfléchi du bien. Ces deux principes, quelquefois d'accord, souvent aussi se font la guerre; et c'est tantôt l'un, tantôt l'autre qui l'emporte.

German
Wir müssen demnach bemerken, dass es in einem jeden von uns zwei herrschende und führende Triebe gibt, welchen wir folgen, wie sie eben führen, eine eingeborne Begierde nach dem Angenehmen und eine erworbene Gesinnung, welche nach dem Besten strebt. Diese beiden nun sind in uns bald übereinstimmend, zuweilen auch wieder veruneiniget, da denn jetzt diese, dann wieder die andere siegt.




See also 

See also...



Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure.




Quotes for: good


Quotes

Quotes for: good


The usual pretext of those who make others unhappy is that they do it for their own good.





Do not wait to be perfect to start something good.





Where all is well, there is no such thing as injustice. Justice and goodness are inseparable.





To do good needs no consideration.





The best is the enemy of good.





How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.











Quotes for: pleasure


Quotes

Quotes about pleasure:


Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.
Seneca / 





If we had no faults we should not take so much pleasure in noting those of others.





There is no sweeter pleasure than to surprise a man by giving him more than he hopes for.





The fruits of labor are the sweetest of all pleasures.





The pleasure from hard effort is the sweetest.





Man is born for pleasure; he feels it; no other proof of it is needed.











Quotes for: Desire


Quotes

Quotes for: Desire


He has what he desires who can limit his desires to what is enough.





Desire is the essence of a man.





There is no desire more natural than the desire for knowledge.





Love is the desire to give, not to receive, something.





My third maxim was to try always to conquer myself rather than fortune, and to alter my desires rather than change the order of the world.





Man is a creation of desire, not a creation of need.











Quotes

Plato also said...


Time is the moving image of eternity.
Plato - Timaeus / 





The chief penalty is to be governed by someone worse if a man will not himself hold office and rule.





Then donʼt conclude that what is not beautiful is ugly or what is not good is bad.





Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance.
Plato / 





I only wish that wisdom were the kind of thing that flowed ... from the vessel that was full to the one that was empty.





False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.












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