Plato
Traced to source
4 quotes we’ve traced to Plato
“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors”
Attributed“Atheism is a disease of the soul, before it becomes an error of the understanding”
Disputed“Necessity is the mother of invention”
Disputed“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light”
DisputedNot actually Plato
Often misattributed to Plato
Famous lines widely pinned on Plato that we’ve traced to someone else.
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle”
actually John Watson (“Ian Maclaren”)
“Empathy is the highest form of knowledge”
actually Bill Bullard
“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything”
actually Falsely credited to Plato; earliest documented in Sir John Lubbock (1889)
“Only the dead have seen the end of war”
actually George Santayana
“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation”
actually Richard Lingard (earliest documented source)
On the research bench
Commonly pinned on Plato — under review
3 lines flagged as pinned on Plato and queued for a full source trace — not yet verified.
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Thought Plato said something else?
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