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Art Quotes by Plato

40 Art quotes by Plato

All Art quotes Plato’s page

Plato asks how the art of ruling appears in real governments and treats art as a skill to learn. He likens calligraphy to a geometry of the soul and says that singing and dancing belong to a well‑bred person. He also groups all arts as forms of poetry made by poets.

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God ever geometrizes.

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God is a geometrician.

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Art has no end but its own perfection.

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One man cannot practice many arts with success.

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The power of the Good has taken refuge in the nature of the Beautiful

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A true artist is someone who gives birth to a new reality.

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All well bred men should have mastered the art of singing and dancing.

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[M]ere knowledge of the truth will not give you the art of persuasion.

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To begin with the wine jar in learning the potter's art.

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The productions of all arts are kinds of poetry and their craftsmen are all poets.

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The whole life of the philosopher is a preparation for death.

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The Dance, of all the arts, is the one that most influences the soul. Dancing is divine in its nature and is…

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Romantic Art: The Hearts Awakening - Bouguereau At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet.

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Hence it is from the representation of things spoken by means of posture and gesture that the whole of the art of…

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As to the artists, do we not know that he only of them whom love inspires has the light of fame?-he whom…

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I can show you that the art of calculation has to do with odd and even numbers in their numerical relations to…

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. . . the triumph of my art is in thoroughly examining whether the thought which the mind of the young man…

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There are three arts which are concerned with all things: one which uses, another which makes, and a third which imitates them.

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If you think your child's academic studies are more important than the arts, think again.

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“If a painter, then, paints a picture of an ideally beautiful man, complete to the last detail, is he any the worse…

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If someone separated the art of counting and measuring and weighing from all the other arts, what was left of each (of…

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He who without the Muse's madness in his soul comes knocking at the door of poesy and thinks that art will make…

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“In which, if any, of these constitutions do we find the art of ruling being practiced in the actual government of men?…

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The true musician is attuned to a fairer harmony than that of the lyre... for he truly has in his own life…

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At the Egyptian city of Naucratis there was a famous old god whose name was Theuth; the bird which is called the…

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In one sense it is evident that the art of kingship does include the art of lawmaking. But the political ideal is…

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And yet the artist will go on with his work without knowing in some way if any of his representations are sound…

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For not by art does the poet sing, but by power divine. Had he learned by rules of art, he would have…

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“For the fact is that neither the grammarian nor any other person of skill ever makes a mistake in so far as…

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Vision, in my view, is the cause of the greatest benefit to us, inasmuch as none of the accounts now given concerning…

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Madness, provided it comes as the gift of heaven, is the channel by which we receive the greatest blessings... the men of…

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That's what education should be," I said, "the art of orientation. Educators should devise the simplest and most effective methods of turning…

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Many are the noble words in which poets speak concerning the actions of men; but like yourself when speaking about Homer, they…

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“[there are] two kinds of things the nature of which it would be quite wonderful to grasp by means of a systematic…

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“There is also a third kind of madness, which is possession by the Muses, enters into a delicate and virgin soul, and…

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“Calligraphy is a geometry of the soul which manifests itself physically.”

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Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men.

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Hardly any human being is capable of pursuing two professions or two arts rightly.

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The man who arrives at the doors of artistic creation with none of the madness of the Muses would be convinced that…

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“I perceived how foolish I had been in consenting to take my turn with you in praising love, and saying that I…

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More by Plato

Each man is capable of doing one thing well. If he attempts several, he will fail to achieve distinction in any.

You may be sure, dear Crito, that inaccurate language is not only in itself a mistake: it implants evil in men's souls.

“If men learn this, it will implant forgetfulness in their souls; they will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is…

Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.

I do not think it is permitted that a better man be harmed by a worse.

Any city, however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich; these are at…

When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody may believe them.

“The love of man to woman is a thing common and of course, and at first partakes more of instinct and passion than of…

Strange times are these in which we live when old and young are taught in falsehood's school, and the one man that dares to…

“He was a wise man who invented God.”

For let me tell you, that the more the pleasures of the body fade away, the greater to me is the pleasure and charm…

“What shall we say about those spectators, then, who can see a plurality of beautiful things, but not beauty itself, and who are incapable…

Geometry existed before creation.

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

We must, if we are to be consistent, and if we re to have a real pedigree herd, mate the best of our men…