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Plato Quotes on Knowledge

Browse 7 quotations connecting Plato with Knowledge, with meanings, source notes and related themes.

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Knowledge, opinion and inquiry in Plato’s dialogues

Plato’s dialogues distinguish learning, having a correct belief and being able to explain why that belief is right. In The Republic, Socrates compares opinion with knowledge and explores how education shapes understanding. In the Apology, his frank admission of not knowing is part of his examination of people thought wise. The Symposium’s lesson on ignorance comes from Diotima as reported by Socrates, while Laws has the Athenian Stranger discussing arithmetic in education. The separately composed Meno describes right opinion as useful but less stable than knowledge anchored by an account of its cause; Theaetetus tests whether judges can reach a correct verdict without knowledge of events they did not witness. The latter dialogue does not settle the question with one definitive slogan. These are six independent dialogues, but all English extracts remain translation-dependent and the dialogue speakers are not identical to Plato as a historical speaker.

Sources

Where these knowledge quotations appear

Sources represented here include The Republic, Apology, Laws.

The Republic4th century BCE · 2 matching quotations Apologyc. 399 BCE setting · 1 matching quotation Laws4th century BCE · 1 matching quotation Meno4th century BCE · 1 matching quotation Symposiumc. 385–370 BCE · 1 matching quotation Theaetetus4th century BCE · 1 matching quotation

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7 matching quotations with meanings and source context

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“I neither know nor think that I know.”

Apology · c. 399 BCE setting

Voice: Dialogue speaker · Socrates

Meaning & context

Socrates locates a small advantage in recognizing the boundary of his own knowledge: uncertainty is intellectually healthier than possessing the same ignorance while mistaking it for wisdom.

Source details

Plato, Apology, Benjamin Jowett translation, Project Gutenberg #1656. Socrates says this after examining a politician whom others considered wise; the wording is dialogue speech attributed to Socrates within Plato’s work, not a claim that Socrates knew literally nothing.

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no single instrument of youthful education has such mighty power ... as the study of arithmetic.

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“no single instrument of youthful education has such mighty power ... as the study of arithmetic.”

Laws · 4th century BCE

Voice: Dialogue speaker · Athenian Stranger

Meaning & context

The Athenian Stranger praises arithmetic as a tool for developing practical and civic judgment. The abbreviated extract presents a philosophical claim about training, not a measured comparison of school subjects.

Source details

Laws, Book V, Benjamin Jowett English translation. Explicit excerpt: an ellipsis omits the intervening phrase about domestic economy, politics and the arts; the surrounding passage praises arithmetic while warning against separating skill from moral aims.

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And this is why knowledge is more honourable and excellent than true opinion, because fastened by a chain.

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“And this is why knowledge is more honourable and excellent than true opinion, because fastened by a chain.”

Meno · 4th century BCE

Voice: Dialogue speaker · Socrates

Meaning & context

Socrates compares an accurate opinion with understanding that can remain stable because it is connected to an explanation. In his illustration, true beliefs are useful but may slip away until they are secured by an account of their causes; the chain is a metaphor, not a claim about literal memory storage.

Source details

Meno, around Stephanus 97e–98a, Socrates addressing Meno after the Daedalus-statue comparison. The quoted standalone sentence immediately follows Socrates’s argument that right opinions can guide action but need to be tied down by an account of their cause. Benjamin Jowett English translation, Project Gutenberg #1643. The text and translational phrasing are Jowett’s; the dialogue does not treat every true opinion as worthless.

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“For 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.”

Symposium · c. 385–370 BCE

Voice: Reported speaker · Diotima, recounted by Socrates

Meaning & context

Ignorance becomes difficult to correct when a person feels no lack in understanding, because satisfaction with one’s present judgment removes the motivation to seek what is missing.

Source details

Symposium, Socrates recounting Diotima’s teaching, Benjamin Jowett translation, Project Gutenberg #1600. Diotima is a reported speaker within the dialogue; the passage is philosophical argument about ignorance and desire for wisdom.

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“Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.”

The Republic · 4th century BCE

Voice: Dialogue speaker · Socrates

Meaning & context

Learning forced without engagement may fail to become durable understanding because the learner has not made the knowledge intellectually their own.

Source details

The Republic, Book VII, Jowett translation; Socrates argues that education should draw the mind rather than rely only on compulsion.

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“Opinion appears to you to be darker than knowledge, but lighter than ignorance?”

The Republic · 4th century BCE

Voice: Dialogue speaker · Socrates

Meaning & context

Opinion is treated as an intermediate state: it is not complete ignorance, but it also lacks the clarity and stability of knowledge.

Source details

The Republic, Book V; Socrates places opinion between knowledge and ignorance in the argument about what each apprehends.

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And yet, O my friend, if true opinion in law courts and knowledge are the same, the perfect judge could not have judged rightly without knowledge; and therefore I must infer that they are not the same.

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“And yet, O my friend, if true opinion in law courts and knowledge are the same, the perfect judge could not have judged rightly without knowledge; and therefore I must infer that they are not the same.”

Theaetetus · 4th century BCE

Voice: Dialogue speaker · Socrates

Meaning & context

Socrates argues that someone can arrive at a correct judgment on testimony without having witnessed or known the event firsthand. The example tests Theaetetus’s proposal that knowledge simply equals true opinion; the dialogue continues to investigate other proposed definitions rather than announcing a simple final formula.

Source details

Theaetetus, around Stephanus 201a–c, Socrates explaining his law-court counterexample while speaking with Theaetetus. Benjamin Jowett English translation, Project Gutenberg #1726. The full sentence is spoken by Socrates in the dramatic dialogue, not from Jowett’s prefatory commentary; no claim is made about modern evidence law.

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Knowledge, opinion and inquiry in Plato’s dialogues

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