From the same author

Education, like a prosperous land, bears every good thing.¹²³⁸

Myth places Electra beside Orestes in his madness as a helper; philosophical discourse places good counsel beside youthful impulse as a helper.¹²³⁹

In life, as on a long journey, there must, I suppose, also be seemly rest.¹²⁴⁰

⟨Plato⟩

And each thing is produced in greater quantity, more easily and better, when one person does one task according to his nature and at the right time, free from other tasks.¹²⁴¹

⟨From the same author⟩

Almost no human nature is capable of working thoroughly at two occupations or two crafts; nor, again, is one capable of practicing one himself while supervising someone else practicing the other.¹²⁴²

⟨From the same author⟩

For contrary things, by disturbing one another, make learning difficult.¹²⁴³

⟨From the same author⟩

The same person cannot imitate many things ⟨well⟩ as he can one.¹²⁴⁴

⟨From the same author⟩

Again, for whatever great matters must be worked through well, everyone has long agreed that one must practice them first in small and easier cases, before tackling the greatest matters themselves.¹²⁴⁵

⟨From the same author⟩

And practice in any subject is easier on lesser than on greater matters.¹²⁴⁶

⟨From the same author⟩

For it is better, I suppose, to finish a little well than much inadequately.¹²⁴⁷

Plato, Laws VII

Indulgence makes the young ill-tempered, irritable and violently upset by trifles. Its opposite, harsh and savage subjection, makes them abject, servile and hostile to others, producing unsuitable companions . . . .¹²⁴⁸

Little children express what they love and hate by crying and shouting, signs that are by no means auspicious. This period lasts no less than three years—no small part of life to pass in a worse state or otherwise.

— You are right. —

Does not the ill-tempered man, who is not at all cheerful, seem to you two prone to lamenting and generally fuller of wailing than a good man should be? . . .¹²⁴⁹

For my argument is that the right life must neither pursue pleasures nor altogether avoid pains, but embrace the mean itself, which I have just described by calling it cheerful.¹²⁵⁰

⟨From the same author⟩

For inexperience in everything is nowhere a terrible thing or the greatest of evils; but wide experience and much learning, with bad upbringing, do far greater harm than these.¹²⁵¹

When Isocrates once said that he was justified in charging his pupils a large fee—since he benefited the gifted and labored over the ungifted—Plato said, “You do the opposite, Isocrates: you do not labor over the gifted, and you do not benefit the ungifted.”¹²⁵²

From the same author’s Euthyphro

For it is right to care first for the young, so that they may be as good as possible, just as a good farmer can be expected to care first for young plants, and then for the others too.¹²⁵³

⟨From the same author⟩

One must work no less at learning than at physical training.¹²⁵⁴

⟨From the same author⟩

We must say that the pleasures of learning are unmixed with pains and belong by no means to many people, but to very few.¹²⁵⁵

Republic VI

We know of every seed or growing thing, whether of the earth or of animals, that if it receives neither its proper nourishment, season nor place, the stronger it is, the greater its need of what suits it. For what is bad is, I suppose, more opposed to what is good than to what is not good.¹²⁵⁶

— How could it not be? —

It makes sense, then, I think, for the best nature, under less suitable nurture, to fare worse than an inferior one.¹²⁵⁷

— It does. —

Then shall we also say of souls that the most gifted, when given bad upbringing, become exceptionally bad? Or do you think that great injustices and unalloyed wickedness arise from an inferior nature, rather than a vigorous nature ruined by nurture, while a weak nature will never cause great good or evil?¹²⁵⁸

In the same work

You see, then, that we were not right in saying that even the very elements of a philosophical nature, when badly nurtured, are in a way causes of falling away from the pursuit, as are the so-called goods—wealth and all such resources.¹²⁵⁹

Laws VI

Every growing thing’s first growth, if well directed toward the excellence of its own nature, is most decisive in bringing it to its proper completion—other plants, domestic and wild animals, ⟨and human beings⟩ alike.¹²⁶⁰ The human being, as we say, is tame; yet, with right education and a fortunate natural endowment, it tends to become the most divine and tamest of creatures, but if inadequately or badly reared, the wildest of all that the earth produces.¹²⁶¹

From the Timaeus

Indeed, as the saying goes, what we learn in childhood leaves a remarkable trace in memory.¹²⁶²