Plato, Republic 6. 499e-500a
“Look, buddy,” I said, “Don’t accuse the majority so completely like this. They will have a different opinion if instead of being offensive, you show them the value of abandoning their prejudice against loving learning and make it clear what you mean when you mention philosophers, defining what they do and what there are like as we just did, so they they won’t believe you are talking about the people they suspect.”
Ὦ μακάριε, ἦν δ’ ἐγώ, μὴ πάνυ οὕτω τῶν πολλῶν κατηγόρει. ἀλλοίαν τοι δόξαν ἕξουσιν, ἐὰν αὐτοῖς μὴ φιλονικῶν ἀλλὰ παραμυθούμενος καὶ ἀπολυόμενος τὴν τῆς φιλομαθίας διαβολὴν ἐνδεικνύῃ οὓς λέγεις τοὺς φιλοσόφους, καὶ διορίζῃ ὥσπερ ἄρτι τήν τε φύσιν αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν ἐπιτήδευσιν, ἵνα μὴ ἡγῶνταί σε λέγειν οὓς αὐτοὶ οἴονται.
Cicero, Pro Cluentio 202
“Mob-rallies are the place for prejudice, the courts are the place for truth.”
…in contionibus esse invidiae locum, in iudiciis veritati
Plato, Apology, 19
“I must try to free you of the prejudice you have believed for a long time in so short a period.”
καὶ ἐπιχειρητέον ὑμῶν ἐξελέσθαι τὴν διαβολὴν ἣν ὑμεῖς ἐν πολλῷ χρόνῳ ἔσχετε ταύτην ἐν οὕτως ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ.
Isocrates, On the Peace 142
“If we really want to get rid of the prejudices we have at this present time, we need to stop the pointless conflicts…”
δεῖ γὰρ ἡμᾶς, εἴπερ βουλόμεθα διαλύσασθαι μὲν τὰς διαβολὰς ἃς ἔχομεν ἐν τῷ παρόντι, παύσασθαι δὲ τῶν πολέμων τῶν μάτην γιγνομένων
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers: Epicurus 131
“When we say that pleasure is the goal, we are not talking about he pleasures of the insatiable or those sensuous ones, as those who are ignorant or disagree with us or are prejudiced against us believe; but instead we mean not feeling pain in the body nor trouble in the soul.”
“Ὅταν οὖν λέγωμεν ἡδονὴν τέλος ὑπάρχειν, οὐ τὰς τῶν ἀσώτων ἡδονὰς καὶ τὰς ἐν ἀπολαύσει κειμένας λέγομεν, ὥς τινες ἀγνοοῦντες καὶ οὐχ ὁμολογοῦντες ἢ κακῶς ἐκδεχόμενοι νομίζουσιν, ἀλλὰ τὸ μήτε ἀλγεῖν κατὰ σῶμα μήτε ταράττεσθαι κατὰ ψυχήν.
