“And the greatest blessing of all is to have a lover and to be a lover.”
Symposium, Plato · Phaedrus' Speech
MeaningPhaedrus argues that love inspires courage and virtue, making lovers and beloveds strive for honor. This line encapsulates his belief that love is the greatest good for individuals and society, fostering self-improvement and noble actions.
“For there are two kinds of Love, as there are two kinds of Aphrodite.”
Symposium, Plato · Pausanias' Speech
MeaningPausanias introduces his central distinction between "Common Love" (Aphrodite Pandemos), which is purely physical and indiscriminate, and "Heavenly Love" (Aphrodite Urania), which is noble, directed towards intelligence and virtue, and primarily homosexual. This dichotomy structures his argument.
“The one, the elder, is the Heavenly Aphrodite, who has no mother and is the daughter of Uranus only; she is that Love which is pure and noble, and inspires us to virtue.”
Symposium, Plato · Pausanias' Speech
MeaningPausanias defines Heavenly Love as a higher form, devoid of female influence, focused on the male beloved's intellectual and moral development. This love encourages lifelong commitment and the pursuit of wisdom, contrasting sharply with mere physical desire.
“For what is fine is good, and what is good is fine.”
Symposium, Plato · Agathon's Speech
MeaningAgathon, in his speech, praises Love as being perfectly beautiful, good, and just. This line reflects his aesthetic and moral idealism, where beauty inherently equates to goodness. Socrates later challenges this premise, arguing that Love desires what it lacks.
“Love is of the beautiful, and not of the ugly.”
Symposium, Plato · Socrates' Speech (dialogue with Agathon)
MeaningSocrates, questioning Agathon, establishes that Love desires beauty. This seemingly simple statement is crucial as it leads to the conclusion that if Love desires beauty, it must lack beauty itself, thus challenging Agathon's portrayal of Love as perfectly beautiful.
“Love is not beautiful, nor good.”
Symposium, Plato · Socrates' Speech (Diotima's teaching)
MeaningSocrates, relaying Diotima's teaching, concludes that Love cannot be beautiful or good because it desires these things, implying it lacks them. This paradox reframes Love not as a perfect deity, but as an intermediary striving for what is good and beautiful.
“Eros is not a god, but a great daemon.”
Symposium, Plato · Socrates' Speech (Diotima's teaching)
MeaningDiotima, through Socrates, explains that Love is not a god because it lacks perfect beauty and goodness. Instead, it is a "daemon" or spirit, an intermediary between gods and mortals, bridging the gap between the divine and the human, the wise and the ignorant.
“Love is born of Plenty and Poverty.”
Symposium, Plato · Socrates' Speech (Diotima's teaching)
MeaningDiotima explains Love's parentage: his mother is Poverty (Penía) and his father is Plenty (Poros). This myth explains Love's dual nature – always lacking and desiring, yet resourceful and striving, never fully satisfied but always pursuing.
“He is always poor, and far from tender and beautiful as the many imagine him to be; but he is rough and squalid, and has no shoes, and no home; always lying on the bare earth, without a bed, at the doors and in the streets, he shares his mother's poverty.”
Symposium, Plato · Socrates' Speech (Diotima's teaching)
MeaningThis vivid description by Diotima (via Socrates) paints Love as perpetually needy and unrefined, reflecting his mother Poverty. It contrasts sharply with Agathon's portrayal of Love as perfectly beautiful and delicate, emphasizing Love's inherent lack.
“But, on the other hand, he is always plotting against the beautiful and the good, being bold, impetuous, and strong, a mighty hunter, always weaving some intrigue, and eager for wisdom, a philosopher at all times, a formidable sorcerer, enchanter, and sophist.”
Symposium, Plato · Socrates' Speech (Diotima's teaching)
MeaningThis complements the previous description, showing Love's resourceful and active side, inherited from his father Plenty. Love is a relentless pursuer of beauty and goodness, embodying the very essence of a philosopher – one who loves wisdom.
“Love is the desire for the perpetual possession of the good.”
Symposium, Plato · Socrates' Speech (Diotima's teaching)
MeaningThis is Diotima's fundamental definition of Love. It clarifies that love isn't just for beauty, but for the good, and not just for a moment, but perpetually. This desire for lasting good leads to the pursuit of immortality through procreation or creation of virtue.
“Love is the desire for immortality.”
Symposium, Plato · Socrates' Speech (Diotima's teaching)
MeaningDiotima explains that the desire for perpetual possession of the good manifests as a desire for immortality. This can be achieved through physical procreation (having children) or through spiritual procreation (creating works of virtue, wisdom, and lasting fame).
“And the true order of going, or being led by another, to the things of love, is to begin from the beauties of earth and mount upwards, and go onwards from one to two, and from two to all fair forms, and from fair forms to fair practices, and from fair practices to fair thoughts, until from fair thoughts he arrives at the notion of absolute beauty, and at last knows what the essence of beauty is.”
Symposium, Plato · Socrates' Speech (Diotima's teaching)
MeaningThis describes the "Ladder of Love," Diotima's central metaphor for ascending from particular physical beauties to the contemplation of absolute, unchanging Beauty itself. It outlines the philosophical journey from the sensible world to the intelligible Forms.
“This is that life above all others which a man should live, in the contemplation of beauty absolute.”
Symposium, Plato · Socrates' Speech (Diotima's teaching)
MeaningThis line marks the pinnacle of the Ladder of Love. Diotima (via Socrates) declares that the ultimate human purpose and the most fulfilling life is to achieve direct intellectual apprehension of the Form of Beauty, transcending all particular beautiful things.
“For he who has been instructed thus far in the things of love, and who has learned to see the beautiful in due order and succession, when he comes toward the end, will suddenly perceive a nature of wondrous beauty.”
Symposium, Plato · Socrates' Speech (Diotima's teaching)
MeaningThis describes the transformative experience of reaching the highest rung of the Ladder of Love. The sudden perception of absolute Beauty is a moment of profound philosophical insight and spiritual awakening, the ultimate goal of the lover's journey.
“For a man is not a lover of beauty, but of the good.”
Symposium, Plato · Socrates' Speech (Diotima's teaching)
MeaningSocrates, refining the earlier discussion, clarifies that while beauty often attracts us, the ultimate object of love is the good. Beauty serves as a pathway or manifestation of the good, but the underlying desire is for what is beneficial and perfect.
“For the lover is always a lover of something, and that something is what he lacks.”
Symposium, Plato · Socrates' Speech (dialogue with Agathon)
MeaningThis Socratic principle, applied to Love, states that desire is always for something one does not possess. It underpins the argument that Love, desiring beauty and goodness, cannot itself be perfectly beautiful or good, but rather strives for them.
“For the good man is the friend of the good, and the bad man is the friend of the bad.”
Symposium, Plato · Pausanias' Speech
MeaningPausanias uses this to distinguish between noble and base forms of love. Heavenly Love, he argues, leads good men to seek out other good men, fostering virtue. Common Love, however, can lead to indiscriminate and potentially harmful attachments.
Read the full Symposium summary
Overview, key takeaways and chapter-by-chapter summaries.
Open the summary