O
Oath. As the opinions of men about the gods are changed, the laws should also be changed: a rational legislation ought to do away with the oaths of the parties on either side; they should instead write down the charges, but not add an oath.
A judge who is about to deliver his sentence shall take an oath. — Laws, XII, 948.
No one shall call the gods to witness, when he says or does anything false or deceitful or dishonest, unless he would be the most hateful of mankind to them. And he is most hateful to them who takes a false oath, and never thinks of the gods; and in the second place, he who tells a falsehood in the presence of his superiors. — Laws, XI, 917.
Obedience. He is by far the best, who rather than the Olympic or any other victory of peace or war, desires to win the palm of obedience to the laws of his country, and who, of all mankind, is the person reputed to have obeyed them best during his whole life. — Laws, V, 729.
Object. All this anxiety has regard not to the means which are provided for the sake of an object, but to the object for the sake of which they are provided. — Lysis, 220.
Odd Number. The odd is a particular number; number is wider in extent than the odd. — Euthyphro, 12.
The name of the general is not confined to it; the particular, though not being the general, may also lay claim to it. For example, the number three may be called by its specific name, and also be called odd, which is not the same as three; and this may be said not only of three but also of five, and every alternate number — each of them without being oddness is odd. — Phaedo, 103, 104.
Offering. Brass and iron are instruments of war — let a man, therefore, offer what he likes which is made of wood only, and in like manner of stone to the public temples, but of woven work let him not offer more than one woman can execute in a month. — Laws, XII, 956.
Office. The offices should be held equally by women and men. — Republic, V, 460.
When there has been a contest for office, and the victorious monopolize the government, and refuse any share of office to the defeated party, they live watching one another, in perpetual fear that someone will come into office who has a recollection of former wrongs, and will rise up against them. — Laws, IV, 715.
The good men take office, not because they want it but because they cannot help it; nor under the idea that they are going to have any benefit or enjoyment themselves, but as a necessary duty, and because they are not able to commit the task of ruling to anyone who is better than themselves, or indeed as good. — Republic, I, 347.
The probability is that if a city were composed entirely of good men, then to avoid office (which thus can be managed well by anyone) would be as much an object of ambition as to obtain office is at present. — Republic, I, 347.
To seek office oneself instead of awaiting the call of compulsion has been thought disgraceful. — Republic, I, 347.
Official. Officials are servants of the rulers, not themselves rulers. — Statesman, 290.
Offspring, Intellectual. Men whose bodies only are pregnant, betake themselves to women and beget children — this is the character of their love; their offspring, as they hope, will preserve their memory and give them the blessedness and immortality which they desire in the future. But pregnant souls — for there are men who are more creative in their souls than in their bodies — conceive that which is proper for the soul to conceive and retain. And what are these conceptions? — wisdom and virtue in general.... And he who in youth has the seed of temperance and justice implanted in him and is himself inspired, when he comes to maturity desires to beget and generate. And when he finds a fair and noble and well-nurtured soul ... in company they tend that which he brings forth, and they are married by a far nearer tie and have a closer friendship than those who beget mortal children, for the children who are their common offspring are fairer and more immortal. Who, when he thinks of Homer and Hesiod and other great poets, would not rather have their children than ordinary human ones? Who would not emulate them in the creation of children such as theirs, which have preserved their memory and given them everlasting glory? There is Solon, too, who is the revered father of Athenian laws; and many others there are, who have done many noble works, and have been the parents of virtue of every kind; and many temples have been raised in honor of their children, which were never raised in honor of the mortal children of anyone. — Symposium, 208, 209.
Oil. Physicians always forbid their patients the use of oil in their food, except in very small quantities, just sufficient to take away the disagreeable sensation of smelling meats and sauces. — Protagoras, 334.
Old Age. He will not think that old age of itself brings wisdom. — Laches, 188.
Those who have reached old age, fall out of acquaintance with the young. — Laches, 180.
Old age is no burden to you, not because you are of a happy disposition, but because you are rich. — Republic, I, 329.
I am afraid that you will laugh at me if I continue the games of youth in old age. — Menexenus, 236.
Men of old age flock together; we are birds of a feather, as the old proverb says; and at our reunions the lament of my acquaintance commonly is — I cannot eat, I cannot drink; the pleasures of youth and love are fled away: there was a good time once, but now that is gone, and life is no longer life. Some complain of the slights which are put upon them by relations, and they will tell you sadly of how many evils their old age is the cause. But to me, these complainers seem to blame that which is not really in fault. For if old age were the cause, I too being old would have felt as they do. But this is not my experience. How well I remember the aged poet Sophocles, when in answer to the question, How does love suit with age, Sophocles — are you still the man you were? Peace, he replied; most gladly have I escaped the thing of which you speak; I feel as if I had escaped from a mad and furious master. — Republic, I, 329.
When the root of the triangles is relaxed by having undergone many conflicts with many things in the course of time, they are no longer able to cut or assimilate the food which enters into them, but are easily subverted by the new bodies which come in from without. In this way the whole animal is overcome and decays, and this state of things is called old age. — Timaeus, 81.
Neither can a good poor man lightly bear old age, nor can a bad rich man, grown old, ever be at peace with himself. — Republic, I, 330.
Certainly old age has a great sense of calm and freedom; when the passions relax their hold, then, as Sophocles says, we are freed from the grasp not of one mad master only, but of many. — Republic, I, 329.
As he is older he may be expected to be wiser than we are. — Theaetetus, 171.
I am old and my memory is bad. — Laches, 189.
Clearly you and I will be compelled to reply that the old men are right; their way of thinking is far better than any other which now prevails in the world. — Laws, II, 658.
I believe that we old men would have the greatest pleasure in hearing a rhapsodist recite the Iliad and Odyssey, or one of the Hesiodic poems. — Laws, II, 658.
Oligarchy. When the rich disregard the laws, such a government is called oligarchy. — Statesman, 301.
Oligarchies have both the extremes of great wealth and utter poverty. — Republic, VIII, 552.
In oligarchical states, from the general spread of carelessness and extravagance, men of no ignoble quality have often been reduced to beggary. And still they remain in the city; there they are, ready to sting and fully armed, and some of them owe money, some have forfeited their citizenship; a third class are in both predicaments; and they hate and conspire against the acquirers of their property, and against everybody else, and are eager for revolution. — Republic, VIII, 555.
Olive. She made the olive spring up as a boon to their descendants, and to be the help of their toils. — Menexenus, 238.
Olive Oil. Olive oil is very bad for all plants, and generally most injurious to the hair of every animal with the exception of man, but beneficial to human hair and to the human body generally. — Protagoras, 334.
Omen. I shall speak only words of good omen. — Letter, VI, 323.
One. If one exists, number must exist. — Parmenides, 144.
The one is different from the others. — Parmenides, 146.
The original one must be seen not only as one and many and infinite, but also in some definite number. — Philebus, 16.
Oneness. There is no impropriety in our inquiring of the dualists [about the meaning of being]. And what about the assertors of the oneness of the all — must we not endeavor to ascertain from them what they mean by “being”? ... Shall we say that being is one and a whole only as having the attribute of unity? Or shall we say that being is not a whole at all? That is a hard alternative to offer. For being having in a certain sense the attribute of one, is yet proved not to be the same as one, and the all is therefore more than one. — Sophist, 244, 245.
Opinion. They have differences of opinion about good and evil, just and unjust, honorable and dishonorable: there would have been no quarrels among them, if there had been no such differences. The same things, as it appears, are hated by the gods and loved by the gods, are both hateful and dear to them. Upon this view the same things will be pious and also impious. — Euthyphro, 7, 8.
Human opinions are not stable. — Letter, VI, 323.
Some opinions are to be regarded, and others are not to be regarded. — Crito, 46.
There is nothing that I admire more than your magnanimous disregard of any opinion. — Euthydemus, 303.
Opinion is darker than knowledge, but lighter than ignorance; it is an intermediate between them. — Republic, V, 478.
Opposing. I cannot oppose you when I agree with you. — Theaetetus, 162.
There is a difficulty in opposing many millions of mouths. — Laws, VII, 810.
Opposites. We admitted before that opposites are simply generated from opposites; but now this seems to be utterly denied. — But you do not observe that there is a difference in the two cases. For then we were speaking of contrary opposites, while now of contradictory opposites. — Phaedo, 103.
The greatest friendship is of opposites. — Lysis, 216.
All opposites are, even though not expressed in words, generated out of one another, and there is a passing or process from one to the other of them. — Phaedo, 71.
Every opposite has one opposite only and no more. — Protagoras, 332.
The number two is certainly not opposed to the number three. — Phaedo, 104.
I have described the dances which are appropriate to noble bodies and generous souls. But it is necessary also to consider and know uncomely persons and thoughts, and those which are intended to produce laughter in comedy. For serious things cannot be understood without laughable things, nor opposites at all without opposites, if a man is really to have intelligence of either. And for this reason he should learn them both, in order that he may not in ignorance do or say anything which is ridiculous and out of place. — Laws, VII, 816.
Are not all things which have opposites generated out of their opposites? I mean such things as good and evil, just and unjust — and there are inumerable other opposites which are generated out of opposites. — Phaedo, 70.
The weaker is generated from the stronger, and the swifter from the slower. And the worse is from the better, and the more just is from the more unjust. And we are convinced that all opposites are generated out of one another. — Phaedo, 71.
These two forms or ideas, the one of greatness, and the other of smallness, have existence. — Parmenides, 149.
The nature of the light and the heavy will be best understood when examined in connection with our notions of above and below; for it is quite wrong to suppose that the universe is parted in two regions, separate from and opposite to each other, the one a lower one to which all things tend which have any bulk, and an upper one to which things only ascend against their will. — Timaeus, 62.
Optimism. The best soul takes care of the world and guides it along the good path. — Laws, X, 897. Vide World.
Oratory. Discussion is one thing, and making an oration is quite another. — Protagoras, 336.
Orators and lawyers persuade men by their art and do not teach them. — Theaetetus, 201.
He who would be a skillful rhetorician has no need of truths — for in courts of law men literally care nothing about truth, but only about plausibility: and this is based on probability, to which he who would be an astute orator should therefore give his whole attention. And they say also that there are causes in which the actual facts ought to be withheld, and only the probabilities should be told. — Phaedrus, 272.
The perfection of oratory is, like the perfection of all things, partly accomplished by natural talent, assisted by art. — Phaedrus, 269.
Order. No other animal attained to any perception of order, but man only. Now the order of motion is called rhythm, and the order of the voice, in which high and low are duly mingled, is called harmony; and both together are termed choric song. — Laws, II, 664, 665.
Orphan. Do you know where you will have to look if you want to discover his rogueries? Let him be the guardian of an orphan, or have some other great opportunity of acting dishonestly. — Republic, VIII, 554.
Men should have a fear of the gods above, who regard the loneliness of orphans. — Laws, XI, 927.
We ought to take measures that the misfortune of orphanhood may be as little sad as possible. — Laws, XI, 926.
Orpheus. Orpheus attracted the listeners by his voice. — Protagoras, 315.
Overcome. When you speak of being overcome, what do you mean, but that you choose the greater evil in exchange for the lesser good? — Protagoras, 355.