Get Your Plato On!

November 7, 2015

Today is Plato's birthday, and if we lived in Florence in the late 15th century and were friends with Lorenzo de' Medici, il Magnifico, we’d have gotten our Plato on. Each November 7th, Lorenzo threw a birthday celebration of Plato, at Careggi, one of his favorite country villas. There, the best and brightest of Florence toasted the ancient philosopher, recited his writings, and promised to forward humanity with elevated and, therefore, virtuous thinking.

Here are what I would call some of the philosopher's best thoughts:

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

Courage is knowing what not to fear.

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors..

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.