Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow... even if that someone is yourself!
PlatoRead
... the community suffers nothing very terrible if its cobblers are bad and become degenerate and pretentious; but if the Guardians of its laws and constitution, who alone have the opportunity to bring it good government and prosperity, become a mere sham, then clearly it is completely ruined.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quality of a community depends on its leaders, not on its craftsmen.
In this quote, Plato emphasizes the vital importance of virtuous leadership in maintaining a healthy and prosperous society. While the quality of tradespeople like cobblers may be important, it is the integrity and competence of those in power who govern and uphold the laws that truly determine the well-being of a community. When leaders fail to uphold their responsibilities, the entire society suffers, resulting in its ultimate decline and ruin.
Themes
LeadershipGovernmentSocietyIntegrityPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of ethical leadership in politics.
More from Plato
All quotes →Not one of them who took up in his youth with this opinion that there are no gods ever continued until old age faithful to his conviction.
PlatoRead
...for the object of education is to teach us to love beauty.
PlatoRead
Pleasure is the greatest incentive to evil.
PlatoRead
Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety.
PlatoRead
Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence.
PlatoRead
Similar quotes
With a tiny bit of effort, the nettle would be useful; if you neglect it, it becomes a pest. So then we kill it. How many men are like nettles My friends, there is no such thing as a weed and no such thing as a bad man. There are only bad cultivators.
Victor HugoRead
There is nothing more natural than to consider everything as starting from oneself, chosen as the center of the world; one finds oneself thus capable of condemning the world without even wanting to hear its deceitful chatter.
Guy DebordRead
People mistakenly assume that their thinking is done by their head; it is actually done by the heart which first dictates the conclusion, then commands the head to provide the reasoning that will defend it.
Anthony De MelloRead
When they are preparing for war, those who rule by force speak most copiously about peace until they have completed the mobilization process.
Stefan ZweigRead
Cassius Clay is a name that white people gave to my slave master. Now that I am free, that I don't belong anymore to anyone, that I'm not a slave anymore, I gave back their white name, and I chose a beautiful African one.
Muhammad AliRead
The young feel tired at the end of an action, the old at the beginning.
T. S. EliotRead