Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow... even if that someone is yourself!
The people always have some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness. ... This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that people often elevate a leader who initially appears to protect them, but this can lead to tyranny.
Plato's quote reflects on the relationship between the populace and their leaders, indicating that individuals will often seek out a champion, attributing their hopes and aspirations to this figure. Initially, this champion appears benevolent and protective, but over time, this can lead to the emergence of tyranny, as the authority granted can be abused. It serves as a cautionary statement about the nature of power and the dynamics between leaders and the led.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about political responsibility, one could use the quote to emphasize the need for vigilance against the rise of tyrannical leaders.
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.
...for the object of education is to teach us to love beauty.
Pleasure is the greatest incentive to evil.
Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety.
Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence.
Similar quotes
Poverty is not a mortgage on the labor of others-misfortu ne is not a mortgage on achievement-fai lure is not a mortgage on success-sufferi ng is not a claim check, and its relief is not the goal of existence-man is not a sacrificial animal on anyone’s altar nor for anyone’s cause-life is not one huge hospital.
About belief or lack of belief in an afterlife: Some of you may know that I am neither Christian nor Jewish nor Buddist, nor a conventionally religious person of any sort. I am a humanist, which mean, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without any expectation of rewards or punishments after I'm dead.
Perhaps I'm old and tired, but I always think that the chances of finding out what really is going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say hang the sense of it and just keep yourself occupied.
War used to be something you could stand on the nearby hill and watch. Now we have total war; everybody's in it. We have total economics as well. Everything affects everybody. The Malaysian currency shakes, and people around the world are seriously affected.
The world of men is dreaming, it has gone mad in its sleep, and a snake is strangling it, but it can't wake up.
I have a deep sympathy with war; it so apes the gait and bearing of the soul.