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Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes about Plato

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When a thought of Plato becomes a thought to me,--when a truth that fired the soul of Pindar fires mine, time is no more. When I feel that we two meet in a perception, that our two souls are tinged with the same hue,

When a thought of Plato becomes a thought to me,--when a truth that fired the soul of Pindar fires mine, time is no more. When I feel that we two meet in a perception, that our two souls are tinged with the same hue, and do as it were run into one, why should I measure degrees of latitude, why should I count Egyptian years?

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Running, Plato, Years
Ralph Waldo Emerson, David Mikics (2012). “The Annotated Emerson”, p.151, Harvard University Press

There is one mind common to all individual men. Every man is an inlet to the same and to all of the same. He that is once admitted to the right of reason is made a freeman of the whole estate. What Plato has thought, he may think; what a saint has felt, he may feel; what at any time has befallen any man, he can understand. Who hath access to this universal mind is a party to all that is or can be done, for this is the only and sovereign agent

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Plato, Party, Men
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1981). “The Portable Emerson: New Edition”, p.102, Penguin

Plato says that the punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is, to live under the government of worse men; and the like regret is suggested to all the auditors, as the penalty of abstaining to speak,--that they shall hear worse orators than themselves.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wise, Regret, Plato
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1870). “Society and Solitude: Twelve Chapters”, p.56, London S. Low, Son & Marston 1870.

Nothing can be colder than his head, when the lightnings of his imagination are playing in the sky.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Plato, Sky, Imagination
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1872). “The Prose Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Representative men. English traits. Conduct of life”, p.33

We may like well to know what is Plato’s and what is Montesquieu’s or Goethe’s part, and what thought was always dear to the writer himself; but the worth of the sentences consists in their radiancy and equal aptitude to all intelligence. They fit all our facts like a charm. We respect ourselves the more that we know them.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Plato, May, Aptitude
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.2614, Delphi Classics

I am the owner of the sphere, Of the seven stars and the solar year, of Caesar's hand, and Plato's brain, Of Lord Christ's heart, and Shakespeare's strain.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Stars, Plato, Heart
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1962). “The Portable Emerson”

Plato is philosophy, and philosophy, Plato,--at once the glory and the shame of mankind, since neither Saxon nor Roman have availed to add any idea to his categories.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Plato, Philosophy, Philosophical
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2016). “Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - Plato, or the philosopher”, p.2, Editora Dracaena

It is in the stomach of plants that development begins, and ends in the circles of the universe. 'Tis a long scale from the gorilla to the gentleman,--from the gorilla to Plato, Newton, Shakespeare,--to the sanctities of religion, the refinements of legislation, the summit of science, art, and poetry. The beginnings are slow and infirm, but it is an always accelerated march.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Art, Plato, Circles
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1905). “The Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson”

There are not in the world at any one time more than a dozen persons who read and understand Plato:-never enough to pay for an edition of his works; yet to every generation these come duly down, for the sake of those few persons, as if God brought them written in his hand.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Time, Plato, Hands
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.1321, Delphi Classics

Society is an illusion to the young citizen. It lies before him in rigid repose, with certain names, men, and institutions, rootedlike oak-trees to the centre, round which all arrange themselves the best they can. But the old statesman knows that society is fluid; there are no such roots and centres; but any particle may suddenly become the centre of the movement, and compel the system to gyrate round it, as every man of strong will, like Pisistratus, or Cromwell, does for a time, and every man of truth, like Plato, or Paul, does forever.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Strong, Plato, Lying
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2012). “The Selected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson”, p.161, Graphic Arts Books

I like people who like Plato.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Plato, People
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1872). “Representative men. English traits. Conduct of life”, p.390

When we are exalted by ideas, we do not owe this to Plato, but to the idea, to which also Plato was debtor.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Plato, Ideas, Debtors
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1850). “Representative Men: Seven Lectures”, p.14

Aristotle and Plato are reckoned the respective heads of two schools. A wise man will see that Aristotle platonizes.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wise, Plato, Philosophical
Ralph Waldo Emerson, David Mikics (2012). “The Annotated Emerson”, p.191, Harvard University Press

The genius of the Platonists, is intoxicating to the student, yet how few particulars of it can I detach from all their books.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Plato, Book, Genius
Ralph Waldo Emerson (2012). “The Selected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson”, p.168, Graphic Arts Books

Out of Plato come all things that are still written and debated about among men of thought.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Plato, Philosophy, Men

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