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.
I personally hope and wish that Britain will stay part and parcel of the European Union.
Today we voted as Democrats and Republicans. Tomorrow we begin again as New Yorkers.
We all deserve credit for this new surveillance state that we live in because we the people voted for the Patriot Act. Democrats and Republicans alike....We voted for the people who voted for it, and then voted for the people who reauthorized it, then voted for the people who re-re-authorize d it.
Any attempts by any government to change Community legislation to its own wishes are doomed to failure following the extension of policy areas now subject to majority voting... In our opinion, this must have serious implications for the traditional view of Parliament as a legislative body sovereignty.
Dictators fall when they're overconfident; they stay in power when they're paranoid.
Big government inevitably drives an upward distribution of wealth to those whose wealth, confidence and sophistication enable them to manipulate government.
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