Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Knowledge is the only good thing and ignorance is the only evil thing.
In plain terms
Knowing good things makes you good; ignorance makes you bad.
What can you take from it?
Focus on gaining knowledge to live well.

Where it applies

  • moral choice
  • education
  • self improvement

Putting it to work

  • prioritize learning
  • avoid ignorance

Questions to consider

  • Is knowledge enough to make a person good?
  • Can you be good without knowing everything?

Another view

This view ignores other factors like intent or circumstance in morality.

More from Plato

  1. I shall assume that your silence gives consent (XLI).

    Permalink to quote #58
  2. Wherever it has been established that it is shameful to be involved with sexual relationships with men, that is due to evil on the part of the rulers, and to c…

    Permalink to quote #60
  3. Aristotle has kicked us off, just as chickens do their mother after they have been hatched.

    Permalink to quote #57

Related quotes

  1. The idiot is indeed the good man, but only because he doesn't know any better.

    William SaroyanWilliam Saroyan quote #165
  2. There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.

    SocratesSocrates quote #24
  3. We are much beholden to Machiavelli and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do . For it is not possible to join serpentine wisdom with t…

    Niccolo MachiavelliNiccolo Machiavelli quote #46