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Who really said it

Atheism is a disease of the soul, before it becomes an error of the understanding

Not a Plato quote — a Victorian paraphrase Plato (idea) — wording by William Fleming, 1857 Plato c. 428–348 BC · wording from William Fleming, 1791–1866
Disputed Free to reuse

The thought is genuinely Platonic — in Laws, Book X Plato calls atheism a “disease” and blames it on incontinence of pleasures before intellect. But this exact sentence is not a translation of Plato: it is Scottish philosopher William Fleming’s own gloss, printed as “a fine observation of Plato in his Laws” in his Vocabulary of Philosophy (1857), p. 52.

Last verified 8 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“Atheism is a disease of the soul, before it becomes an error of the understanding” wording by William Fleming, Vocabulary of Philosophy (1857), glossing Plato's Laws, Book X. Not a direct quotation of Plato.

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Plato. Use the credit shown above instead.

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In context

Evoking the world of Plato — Athenian philosopher, founder of the Academy. Theme: "Atheism is a disease of the soul, before it becomes an error of the understanding". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "Atheism is a disease of the soul, before it becomes an error of the understanding". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

Where the wording actually comes from

Wording
The Vocabulary of Philosophy, Mental, Moral, and Metaphysical
Author of wording
William Fleming (1857), p. 52
Idea
Plato, Laws, Book X (4th c. BC)
Translation
Plato quoted via Jowett; the sentence itself is Fleming’s English

It is a fine observation of Plato in his Laws — that atheism is a disease of the soul before it becomes an error of the understanding.

As written by William Fleming, Vocabulary of Philosophy (1857), p. 52 — his summary of Plato, presented as an “observation,” not a quotation.

William Fleming on Wikiquote (sourced)

How we verified this

  • The exact line first appears in William Fleming’s Vocabulary of Philosophy (1857), p. 52, where he calls it “a fine observation of Plato in his Laws” — his paraphrase, not a translation.
  • Secularist George Holyoake repeated it in The Limits of Atheism (1874), p. 13, again crediting Plato’s Laws.
  • Plato’s Laws, Book X (Jowett) does call atheism a “disease” and blames incontinence of pleasures — the source of the idea Fleming compressed.
  • Fleming’s line was carried into S. Austin Allibone’s Prose Quotations from Socrates to Macaulay (1880) and from there into the modern quote sites that now label it a bare “Plato” quote.
Public domain

Both layers are long out of copyright: Plato’s Laws is ancient, and the specific English wording comes from William Fleming’s Vocabulary of Philosophy (1857) — first published well before 1931, and Fleming died in 1866. Public domain in the United States.

Fact-check

How it became a “Plato quote”

The line is real, but it was written in Victorian Scotland, not ancient Athens. Fleming offered it as his summary of Plato; quote sites dropped him and kept Plato.

Not Plato’s words paraphrase

No translation of Plato’s Laws produces this sentence. It originates as William Fleming’s “fine observation of Plato” in his Vocabulary of Philosophy (1857).

Genuinely Plato

Plato’s Laws, Book X does call atheism a “disease” and traces it to incontinence of pleasures before intellectual error — so the thought is fairly credited to him even though the phrasing is not.

A faithful Victorian paraphrase, not a quotation: the sentence is William Fleming’s (1857), distilling an argument Plato really makes in the Laws.

Context

Why the distinction matters

Plato’s Laws Book X argues that unbelief is not first a failure of reasoning but a corruption of character: people are dragged into denying the gods by unrestrained pleasures, and only afterward build arguments to justify it. Fleming’s epigram captures that order — soul first, understanding second — more crisply than Plato ever put it.

That crispness is exactly why it circulates as a “Plato quote.” It reads like an aphorism, so the intermediary who actually composed it disappears, and a 19th-century philosopher’s summary gets promoted to an ancient primary source.

Soul first, understanding second — Plato’s argument, Fleming’s sentence.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Truth Wisdom

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

William Fleming (sourced quotes)en.wikiquote.org

Documents the line as Fleming’s, Vocabulary of Philosophy (1857), p.52.
Vocabulary of Philosophy (1857)archive.org

Full text of Fleming’s book where the wording originates.
Plato, Laws Book X (Jowett)perseus.tufts.edu

Plato’s actual text calling atheism a “disease” of the soul.
Fleming quotation recordlibquotes.com

Attributes the full sentence to Fleming, 1857, p.52.
Holyoake, The Limits of Atheism (1874)libquotes.com

An early re-quotation crediting Plato’s Laws.
Plato: The Lawsiep.utm.edu

Scholarly overview of Laws Book X’s argument against atheism.

The idea’s source

About Plato

Plato

c. 428–348 BC · Athenian philosopher, founder of the Academy

Plato was an Athenian philosopher and student of Socrates whose dialogues shaped Western thought. His last and longest work, the Laws, includes in Book X a sustained argument against atheism, treating disbelief in the gods as a moral and spiritual disorder — a “disease” rooted in unrestrained appetite — rather than a purely intellectual mistake. That argument is the seed a 19th-century editor later compressed into the popular one-liner.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Origin of the wording

William Fleming, The Vocabulary of Philosophy, Mental, Moral, and Metaphysical (Edinburgh: 1857), p. 52; glossing Plato, Laws, Book X (trans. Benjamin Jowett).

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Atheism is a disease of the soul, before it becomes an error of the understanding’?” Last verified 8 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/atheism-is-a-disease-of-the-soul-before-it-becomes-an-error

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