Plato, Alcibiades 1, section 128e

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[128e]

Socrates
Well, so much at least has been admitted, that it is not one which would help us to make a single one of our possessions better, but one which would help to make ourselves so?

Alcibiades
That is true.

Socrates
Now, should we ever have known what art makes a shoe better, if we had not known a shoe?

Alcibiades
Impossible.

Socrates
Nor could we know what art makes rings better, if we had no cognizance of a ring.

Alcibiades
True.

Socrates
Well then, could we ever know what art makes the man himself better, if we were ignorant of what we are ourselves?

Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 8 translated by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1955.

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