A system of morality that is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception that has nothing sound in it and nothing true.
SocratesRead
Nobody is qualified to become a statesman who is entirely ignorant of the problem of wheat.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A true statesman must understand the basic issues affecting society, symbolized here by the problem of wheat.
This quote by Socrates emphasizes the importance of being knowledgeable about fundamental societal issues in order to be an effective leader. The mention of wheat represents basic sustenance and economics, suggesting that statesmen should not only focus on politics but also have a grasp of the practical challenges that affect the livelihood of the people they govern.
Themes
StatesmanKnowledgeLeadershipSocietyWheat
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on political responsibility, a speaker could reference this quote to highlight the importance of understanding fundamental issues.
More from Socrates
All quotes →The poets are only the interpreters of the gods.
SocratesRead
I am wiser than this man, for neither of us appears to know anything great and good; but he fancies he knows something, although he knows nothing; whereas I, as I do not know anything, so I do not fancy I do. In this trifling particular, then, I appear to be wiser than he, because I do not fancy I know what I do not know.
SocratesRead
The unexamined life is not worth living.
SocratesRead
When I was young, I believed that life might unfold in an orderly way, according to my hopes and expectations. But now I understand that the Way winds like a river, always changing, ever onward.. My journeys revealed that the Way itself creates the warrior; that every path leads to peace, every choice to wisdom. And that life has always been, and will always be, arising in Mystery.
SocratesRead
Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued." "It is not living that matters, but living rightly. The unexamined life is not worth living.
SocratesRead
Similar quotes
In nothing do humans approach so nearly to the gods as doing good to others.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
...he said firmly, "God can help you. All the men I’ve seen in your position turned to Him in their time of trouble." "Obviously," I replied, "they were at liberty to do so, if they felt like it." I, however, didn’t want to be helped, and I hadn’t time to work up interest for something that didn’t interest me.
Albert CamusRead
Often people display a curious respect for a man drunk, rather like the respect of simple races for the insane... There is something awe-inspiring in one who has lost all inhibitions.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead
Justice is the means by which established injustices are sanctioned
Anatole FranceRead
The military caste did not originate as a party of patriots, but as a party of bandits
H. L. MenckenRead
The basic fact about human existence is not that it is a tragedy, but that it is a bore. It is not so much a war as an endless standing in line.
H. L. MenckenRead