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By Plato

And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened:—Behold! human beings living in a underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads.

Source
The Republic, Republic, Book VII
Read at
Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett, The Dialogues of Plato (Project Gutenberg text, eBook #1497)

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About this quote

From Book VII of The Republic, in Benjamin Jowett's translation. Plato wrote it as a dialogue, so the words are Plato's text. Socrates is the speaker, talking with Glaucon, and this is the opening of the allegory of the cave.

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