Plato: “Allegory of the Cave”

( ca. 380 BCE ) Commentary by Patrick G. Lake, The Hill School

“The prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world.” -
“Whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort; … this is the power upon which he who would act rationally, either in public or private life must have his eye fixed.” -
“The truth is that the State in which the rulers are most reluctant to govern is always the best and most quietly governed, and the State in which they are most eager, the worst.” -

Bust of Socrates (Yale University Art Gallery)

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