Quotes from Phaedrus
17 notable lines from Plato · c. 370 BCE
Of the nature of the soul, though her true form be ever a theme of large and more than mortal discourse, let me speak briefly, and in a figure. And let the figure be composite—a pair of winged horses and a charioteer.
Quotations follow the Robin Waterfield translation (Oxford World's Classics, 2002) — our recommended edition.
Every soul is immortal, for that which is ever in motion is immortal.
Socrates, 245c You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding.
Thamus to Theuth on writing, 274e-275a This discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories.
King Thamus to the god Theuth, on the invention of writing, 275a · trans. Jowett Writing is unfortunately like painting; for the creations of the painter have the attitude of life, and yet if you ask them a question they preserve a solemn silence.
Socrates, 275d · trans. Jowett I must first know myself, as the Delphian inscription says; to be curious about that which is not my concern, while I am still in ignorance of my own self, would be ridiculous.
Socrates, 229e–230a · trans. Jowett The madness of love is the greatest of heaven's blessings.
Socrates, 245c · trans. Jowett All soul is immortal, for she is the source of all motion both in herself and in others.
Socrates, the proof of the soul's immortality, 245c · trans. Jowett The soul through all her being is immortal, for that which is ever in motion is immortal.
Socrates' Great Speech The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth.
King Thamus to Theuth, 275a · trans. Jowett Beloved Pan, and all ye other gods who haunt this place, give me beauty in the inward soul; and may the outward and inward man be at one.
Socrates, closing prayer, 279c · trans. Jowett My dear Phaedrus, whence come you, and whither are you going?
Socrates, opening line, 227a · trans. Jowett This is the privilege of beauty, that being the loveliest she is also the most palpable to sight.
Socrates, 250d · trans. Jowett I am a lover of knowledge, and the men who dwell in the city are my teachers, and not the trees or the country.
Socrates, 230d · trans. Jowett The right-hand horse is upright and cleanly made; he has a lofty neck and an aquiline nose; his colour is white, and his eyes dark; he is a lover of honour and modesty and temperance.
Socrates, describing the soul's noble steed, 253d · trans. Jowett The other is a crooked lumbering animal, put together anyhow; he has a short thick neck; he is flat-faced and of a dark colour, with grey eyes and blood-red complexion; the mate of insolence and pride, shag-eared and deaf, hardly yielding to whip and spur.
Socrates, describing the soul's unruly steed, 253e · trans. Jowett Am I a monster more complicated and swollen with passion than the serpent Typho, or a creature of a gentler and simpler sort?
Socrates, 230a · trans. Jowett