25 Plato Symposium Quotes To Help Your Philosophy Studies

Plato was a student of Socrates, a popular Greek philosopher from Athens.

Plato's 'Symposium' is a philosophical text in which notable persons give speeches on love at a banquet. It is a discussion about what is love, the purpose of love, and much more.

According to Plato 'Symposium', "Love is a desire for beauty - a value that transcends the particularities of the physical body." Plato's idea about soulmates is "[Each] one longed for its other half, and so they would throw their arms about each other, weaving themselves together, wanting to grow together." As per Diotima, Socrates says "Love is neither mortal nor immortal, neither beautiful nor ugly, it is the desire to possess what is beautiful and one cannot desire that which one already possesses."

If you are interested in similar quotes, check out 'Allegory of the Cave' quotes and Greek quotes.
 

'The Symposium' attributes speeches from wise men about their definitions of love at an Ancient Athenian cocktail party. Here is a collection of Plato 'Symposium' quotes from his philosophy work.

1."Only a philosopher's mind grows wings, since its memory always keeps it as close as possible to those realities by being close to which the gods are divine."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

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

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

3."If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

4."And Agathon said, It is probable, Socrates, that I knew nothing of what I had said.

And yet spoke you beautifully, Agathon, he said."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

5."And the true order of going, or being led by another, to the things of love, is to begin from the beauties of earth."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

6."For harmony is a symphony, and symphony is an agreement; but an agreement of disagreements while they disagree there cannot be; you cannot harmonize that which disagrees."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

7."The creative soul creates not children, but conceptions of wisdom and virtue."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

8."So where it is a general rule that it is wrong to gratify lovers, this can be attributed to the defects of those who make that rule: the government's lust for rule and the subjects' cowardice."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

9. "It is no good for rulers if the people they rule cherish ambitions for themselves or form strong bonds of friendship with one another."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

10."Socrates sat down and said 'How splendid it would be Agathon, if wisdom was the sort of thing that could flow from the fuller to the emptier of us when we touch each other, like water, which flows through a piece of wool from a fuller cup to an emptier one.'"

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

11."Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

12."What if the man could see Beauty Itself, pure, unalloyed, stripped of mortality, and all its pollution, stains, and vanities, unchanging, divine,...the man becoming in that communion, the friend of God, himself immortal;...would that be a life to disregard?"

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

13."I thought to myself: I am wiser than this man; neither of us probably knows anything that is really good, but he thinks he has the knowledge, when he has not, while I, having no knowledge, do not think I have."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

14."'Excellence' is not a gift, but a skill that takes practice. We do not act 'rightly' because we are 'excellent', in fact, we achieve 'excellence' by acting 'rightly'."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

'Phaedrus,' a book by Plato, is a dialogue between Socrates, Phaedrus, and him. The topic of discussion is love. In this section, you will find more Plato quotes.

15."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."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

16."Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

17." If only there were a way to start a city or an army made up of lovers and the boys they love. Theirs would be the best possible system of society, for they would hold back from all that is shameful, and seek honor in each other’s eyes."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

18." Love is simply the name for the desire and pursuit of the whole. "

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

19."And so, when a person meets the half that is his very own, whatever his orientation, whether it's to young men or not, then something wonderful happens: the two are struck from their senses by love, by a sense of belonging to one another, and by desire, and they don't want to be separated from one another, not even for a moment."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

20."Love is born into every human being; it calls back the halves of our original nature together; it tries to make one out of two and heal the wound of human nature."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

21."...when he looks at Beauty in the only way that Beauty can be seen - only then will it become possible for him to give birth not to images of virtue, but to true virtue [arete]. The love of the gods belongs to anyone who has given to true virtue and nourished it, and if any human being could become immortal, it would be he."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

22."He feels particularly ashamed if ever he is seen by his lovers to be invovled in something dishonourable."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

23."The vulgar love of the body which takes wing and flies away when the bloom of youth is over, is disgraceful, and so is the interested love of power or wealth; but the love of the noble mind is lasting."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

24."There are three classes of men; lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

25."…if a man can be properly said to love something, it must be clear that he feels affection for it as a whole, and does not love part of it to the exclusion of the rest."

-Plato, 'The Symposium'.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Plato 'Symposium' quotes then why not take a look at [Plutarch quotes], or ancient quotes.