Plato Evil Quotations

To prefer evil to good is not in human nature; and when a man is compelled to choose one of two evils, no one will choose the greater when he might have the less.

Entire ignorance is not so terrible or extreme an evil, and is far from being the greatest of all.

To go to the world below, having a soul which is like a vessel full of injustice, is the last and worst of all the evils.

Ignorance of all things is an evil neither terrible nor excessive, nor yet the greatest of all; but great cleverness and much learning, if they be accompanied by a bad training, are a much greater misfortune.

No evil can happen to a good man either in life or after death.

Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous.

To a good man nothing that happens is evil.

The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.

Remember our words, then, and whatever is your aim let virtue be the condition of the attainment of your aim, and know that without this all possessions and pursuits are dishonourable and evil.

Pleasure is the greatest incentive to evil.

Wherever it has been established that it is shameful to be involved with sexual relationships with men, that is due to evil on the part of the rulers, and to cowardice on the part of the governed.

Fly from the company of the wicked--fly and turn not back.

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

The greatest penalty of evil-doing is to grow into the likeness of bad men, and, growing like them, to fly from the conversation of the good, and be cut off from them, and cleave to and follow after the company of the bad.

The form of law which I propose would be as follows: In a state which is desirous of being saved from the greatest of all plagues-not faction, but rather distraction-there should exist among the citizens neither extreme poverty nor, again, excessive wealth, for both are productive of great evil . . . Now the legislator should determine what is to be the limit of poverty or of wealth.

To do injustice is the greatest of all evils.

It is not noble to return evil for evil, at no time ought we to do an injury to our neighbors.

For though a man should be a complete unbeliever in the being of gods; if he also has a native uprightness of temper, such persons will detest evil in men; their repugnance to wrong disinclines them to commit wrongful acts; they shun the unrighteous and are drawn to the upright.

Herein is the evil of ignorance, that he who is neither good nor wise is nevertheless satisfied with himself: he had no desire for that of which he feels no want.

Interference by the three classes with each other s jobs, and interchange of jobs between them, therefore, does the greatest harm to our state, and we are entirely justified in calling it the worst of evils.

For the man who makes everything that leads to happiness, or near to it, to depend upon himself, and not upon other men, on whose good or evil actions his own doings are compelled to hinge,--such a one, I say, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation; this is the man of manly character and of wisdom.

There is yet something remaining for the dead, and some far better thing for the good than for the evil.

Ignorance: the root of all evil.

The greatest penalty of evil-doing is to grow into the likeness of a bad man.

For all good and evil, whether in the body or in human nature, originates ... in the soul, and overflows from thence, as from the head into the eyes.

Lord of Lords, grant us the good whether we pray for it or not, but evil keep from us, even though we pray for it.

Discordance is evil. Harmony is virtue.

When anything is in the presence of evil, but is not as yet evil, the presence of good arouses the desire of good in that thing; but the presence of evil, which makes a thing evil, takes away the desire and friendship of the good; for that which was once both good and evil has now become evil only, and the good has no friendship with evil.

No one punishes the evil-doer under the notion, or for the reason, that he has done wrong -- only the unreasonable fury of a beast acts in that way. But he who desires to inflict rational punishment does not retaliate for a past wrong, for that which is done cannot be undone, but he has regard to the future, and is desirous that the man who is punished, and he who sees him punished, may be deterred from doing wrong again.

All who do evil and dishonorable things do them against their will.

To do wrong is the greatest of evils.

There should exist among the citizens neither extreme poverty nor again excessive wealth, for both are productive of great evil.

To escape from evil we must be made as far as possible like God; and the resemblance consists in becoming just and holy and wise.