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Moreover, there is a victory and defeat—the first and best of victories, the lowest and worst of defeats—which each man gains or sustains at the hands, not of another, but of himself; this shows that there is a war against ourselves going on within every one of us.

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Notes from Wikiquote

Sometimes paraphrased as "The first and best victory is to conquer self".

More quotes by Plato

Oh dear Pan and all the other Gods of this place, grant that I may be beautiful inside.

There is no one who ever acts honestly in the administration of states, nor any helper who will save any one who maintains the cause of the just.

Let every man remind their descendants that they also are soldiers who must not desert the ranks of their ancestors, or from cowardice fall behind.

Then we may begin by assuming that there are three classes of men—lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, lovers of gain?

Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Plato (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.