politics Quotes

Masculine republics give way to feminine democracies, and feminine democracies give way to tyranny.

For man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all; since armed injustice is the more dangerous, and he is equipped at birth with the arms of intelligence... ...

To the size of the state there is a limit, as there is to plants, animals and implements, for none of these retain their facility when they are too large.

A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.

If the poor, for example, because they are more in number, divide among themselves the property of the rich,- is not this unjust? . . this law of confiscation clearly cannot be just.

Since the whole city has one end, it is manifest that education should be one and the same for all, and that it should be public, and not private - not as at present, when every one looks after his... ...

Money originated with royalty and slavery, it has nothing to do with democracy or the struggle of the empoverished enslaved majority.

Phronimos, possessing practical wisdom . But the only virtue special to a ruler is practical wisdom; all the others must be possessed, so it seems, both by rulers and ruled. The virtue of a person being ruled is not practical... ...

The greatest threat to the state is not faction but distraction

Once more: there are three offices according to whose directions the highest magistrates are chosen in certain states - guardians of the law, probuli, councilors - of these, the guardians of the law are an aristocratical, the probuli an oligarchical,... ...