“let the speaker speak truly and the judge decide justly.”

“When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody may believe them.”

“There will be no end to the troubles of the state or indeed of humanity until philosophers become kings or until those we now call kings really and truly become philosophers.”

“You know, Phaedrus, writing shares a strange feature with painting. The offsprings of painting stand there as if they are alive, but if anyone asks them anything, they remain most solemnly silent. The same is true of written words. You'd think they were speaking as if they had some understanding, but if you question anything that has been said because you want to learn more, it continues to signify just that very same thing forever. When it has once been written down, every discourse rolls about everywhere, reaching indiscriminately those with understanding no less than those who have no business with it, and it doesn't know to whom it should speak and to whom it should not. And when it is faulted and attacked unfairly, it always needs its father's support; alone, it can neither defend itself nor come to its own support. [275d-e]”

“Let parents then bequeath to their children not riches but the spirit of reverence.”

“Let no one destitute of Geometry enter my doors.”

“Come then, and let us pass a leisure hour in storytelling, and our story shall be the education of our heroes.”