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And we have admitted that justice is the excellence of the soul, and injustice the defect of the soul?
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“And we have admitted that justice is the excellence of the soul, and injustice the defect of the soul?”

Plato

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Source
The Republic
Date
4th century BCE
Local voice
Dialogue speaker · Socrates
English wording
Benjamin Jowett — Translator · from Ancient Greek
Meaning

Meaning of “And we have admitted that justice is the…”

Socrates treats justice as a quality by which a soul performs its work well, rather than simply an advantage in public reputation or trade. This concluding question ties the earlier inquiry about justice to the dialogue’s claim about how people live.

Source context

Where does it come from?

The Republic, Book I, close of Socrates’s argument with Thrasymachus about the function and excellence of the soul. Benjamin Jowett English translation, Project Gutenberg #1497. It belongs to a provisional exchange that ends with Socrates acknowledging that the inquiry has not fully determined what justice is; it is not a scientific claim about the soul.

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Speaker context

Why the local voice matters

Socrates speaks in The Republic Book I, Jowett translation.

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DeepPhilosophyThought-Provoking Quotes That Invite ReflectionWisdom Quotes About Judgment & Living WellEthicsJusticeSoulVirtue
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And thus we arrive at the conclusion that virtue is either wholly or partly wisdom?
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“And thus we arrive at the conclusion that virtue is either wholly or partly wisdom?”

Plato · Meno · 4th century BCE
Voice: Dialogue speaker · Socrates
Meaning & context

Socrates arrives at a conditional suggestion that a good character may depend wholly or partly on wisdom. His question follows a discussion of how judgment guides courage and other qualities toward good outcomes. It is not a final definition: he soon reopens the question by doubting whether virtue can be taught and whether suitable teachers exist.

Source details

Plato, Meno, approximately Stephanus 89a; Socrates is questioning Meno after connecting the usefulness of virtues with wise guidance. The conclusion is provisional and is challenged shortly afterwards when they examine the absence of recognized teachers of virtue. Exact complete sentence in Benjamin Jowett English, Project Gutenberg #1643, dialogue proper (not translator introduction); the historical Plato is not the speaking character.

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But now, inasmuch as the soul is manifestly immortal, there is no release or salvation from evil except the attainment of the highest virtue and wisdom.
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“But now, inasmuch as the soul is manifestly immortal, there is no release or salvation from evil except the attainment of the highest virtue and wisdom.”

Plato · Phaedo · 4th century BCE
Voice: Dialogue speaker · Socrates
Meaning & context

Near the end of the Phaedo, Socrates connects the way a person lives with the care and formation of the soul. His claim depends on an argument for immortality advanced inside the dialogue; it is a philosophical and religious position, not a scientific finding about an afterlife.

Source details

Plato, Phaedo, approximately 107c, Socrates addressing his companions after the arguments concerning the soul; Benjamin Jowett English, Gutenberg #1658. This sentence is in the dialogue proper, not the translator introduction. Preserve the surrounding conditional argument about the soul and historical belief in immortality.

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Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself;
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“Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself;”

Benedict de Spinoza · Ethics · 1677
Meaning & context

Spinoza argues that the highest form of flourishing is not an external prize paid for virtuous conduct but is bound up with the activity he calls virtue itself.

Source details

Ethics, Part V, Proposition XLII, R. H. M. Elwes translation represented by Project Gutenberg #3800. ‘Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself’ introduces Spinoza's proposition linking blessedness, knowledge, virtue and control of the emotions. It remains translation-mediated seventeenth-century metaphysical ethics, not a universal psychological measurement or clinical prescription.

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Justice was doing one’s own business, and not being a busybody.
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“Justice was doing one’s own business, and not being a busybody.”

Plato · The Republic · 4th century BCE
Voice: Dialogue speaker · Socrates
Meaning & context

Justice in the city is connected with people fulfilling appropriate responsibilities rather than constantly interfering in roles that are not theirs.

Source details

The Republic, Book IV; the statement summarizes a definition developed within Socrates’ argument about the ordered city.

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Humility should not be an abasement; for it is never a virtue in man to lower himself.
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“Humility should not be an abasement; for it is never a virtue in man to lower himself.”

Paul Janet · Elements of Morals · 1884 English translation
Meaning & context

Janet sharply separates humility from self-degradation: accurate awareness of human weakness should coexist with dignity, so humility does not require pretending that one has no worth or abilities.

Source details

Elements of Morals, Chapter XIV, section 165, printed page 296, Caroline Rollin Corson’s 1884 English translation, Project Gutenberg #37016. Janet distinguishes humility from abasement: humility arises from recognition of human weakness, but lowering oneself is not itself a virtue. The passage belongs to nineteenth-century systematic moral philosophy rather than modern clinical self-esteem guidance.

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Virtue then is a state apt to exercise deliberate choice, being in the relative mean, determined by reason.
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“Virtue then is a state apt to exercise deliberate choice, being in the relative mean, determined by reason.”

Aristotle · Nicomachean Ethics · 4th century BCE
Meaning & context

Virtue is treated as a stable capacity for deliberate choice, guided by practical judgment rather than by extremes of impulse or deficiency.

Source details

Nicomachean Ethics, Book II, Chapter VI; the public-domain English translation defines virtue through deliberate choice and the relative mean.

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