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.
The Iranian government is undoubtedly a severe danger to its own population, but not beyond that.
Elections exist for the sake of the House of Commons and not the House of Commons for the sake of elections.
I will defend Europe; it is our civilisation which is at stake... I will work to rebuild ties between Europe and its citizens.
One of the most pervasive political visions of our time is the vision of liberals as compassionate and conservatives as less caring.
A politics that is not sensitive to the concerns and circumstances of people's lives, a politics that does not speak to and include people, is an intellectually arrogant politics that deserves to fail.
One has to be a lowbrow, a bit of a murderer, to be a politician, ready and willing to see people sacrificed, slaughtered, for the sake of an idea, whether a good one or a bad one.
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