The power of good is shown not by triumphantly conquering evil, but by continuing to resist evil while facing certain defeat.
Edith HamiltonRead
When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True freedom involves embracing responsibility rather than escaping it.
Edith Hamilton's quote reflects on the concept that the desire for freedom must be coupled with the acceptance of responsibility. Athens, a symbol of democracy and freedom, lost its essence when its citizens prioritized personal liberty over the duties and obligations that arise from living in a society. This suggests that genuine freedom cannot exist without individuals understanding and fulfilling their responsibilities towards others and their community.
Themes
FreedomResponsibilityAthensPhilosophySociety
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on democracy, I quoted Hamilton to emphasize the importance of civic duty.
More from Edith Hamilton
All quotes βTheories that go counter to the facts of human nature are foredoomed.
Edith HamiltonRead
To rejoice in life, to find the world beautiful ... was a mark of the Greek spirit.
Edith HamiltonRead
Responsibility is the price every man must pay for freedom.
Edith HamiltonRead
So far, we do not seem appalled at the prospect of exactly the same kind of education being applied to all the school children from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but there is an uneasiness in the air, a realization that the individual is growing less easy to find; an idea, perhaps, of what standardization might become when the units are not machines, but human beings.
Edith HamiltonRead
Pain is the most individualized thing on earth. It is true that it is the great common bond as well, but that realization only comes when it is over. To suffer is to be alone. To watch another suffer is to know the barrier that shuts each of us away by himself Only individuals can suffer.
Edith HamiltonRead
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You Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilisation to pieces, turn the world upside down and bring peace to a battle-torn planet. But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of literature.
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Let us understand that God is a physician, and that suffering is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation.
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You can't carve up the world. It's not a pie.
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