Those who are politically apathetic can only survive if they are supported by people who are capable of taking action.
Interpretation
Political apathy can only be sustained through the actions of engaged individuals.
In this quote, Pericles highlights the importance of political engagement and action for the survival of a society. He suggests that those who show indifference to politics rely heavily on the proactive efforts of others, underscoring the necessity for civic participation to ensure a healthy political environment.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of voting and civic responsibility.
For heroes have the whole earth for their tomb; and in lands far from their own, where the column with its epitaph declares it, there is enshrined in every breast a record unwritten with no tablet to preserve it, except that of the heart.
Just because you are not interested in politics, does not mean that politics is not interested in you.
Famous men have the whole earth as their memorial.
Not to be able to bear poverty is a shameful thing, but not to know how to chase it away by work is a more shameful thing yet.
For the whole earth is the tomb of famous men; not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions in their own country, but in foreign lands there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men.
For a man's counsel cannot have equal weight or worth, when he alone has no children to risk in the general danger.
There is no plausible theory under which the record of the Pentagon Papers can be interpreted as relating to the national defense.
I'm highly political. I spend an awful lot of time in the U.S. trying to influence decision-makers. But I don't feel in tune with British politics.
What I think is fair to say is that, coming out of the Republican camp, there have been efforts to suggest that perhaps I'm not who I say I am when it comes to my faith - something which I find deeply offensive, and that has been going on for a pretty long time.
The most political decision you make is where you direct people's eyes. In other words, what you show people, day in and day out, is political...And the most politically indoctrinating thing you can do to a human being is to show him, every day, that there can be no change.
Good economics is good politics.
It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it.
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