That first being became afraid; therefore, one becomes afraid when one is alone. Then he thought to himself: 'Of what should I be afraid, when there is no one but me?' So his fear left him, for what was he going to be afraid of? One is, after all, afraid of another.
- Upanisads (trans. Patrick Olivelle)
So I said, "What do you mean, Diotima? Is Love ugly, then, and bad?"
But she said, "Watch your tongue! Do you erally think that, if a thing is not beautiful, it has to be ugly?"
"I certainly do."
"And if a thing's not wise, it's ignorant? Or haven't you found out yet that there's something in between wisdom and ignorance?"
"What's that?"
"It's judging things correctly without being able to give a reason. Surely you see that this is not the same as knowing - for how could knowledge be unreasoning? And it's not ignorance either - for how could what hits the truth be ignorance? Correct judgement, of course, has this character: it is in between understanding and ignorance."
- Plato, Symposium