Republic Quotes

“I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.”
― Plato, The Republic

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.”
― Plato, The Republic

“In the present case it is a little inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible to any public office of trust or profit in the Republic. But I do not repine, for I am a subject of it only by force of arms.”
― H.L. Mencken

“An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.”
― Plutarch

“In the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous.”
― Robert G. Ingersoll

“The philosopher whose dealings are with divine order himself acquires the characteristics of order and divinity.”
― Plato, The Republic

“... when someone sees a soul disturbed and unable to see something, he won't laugh mindlessly, but he'll take into consideration whether it has come from a brighter life and is dimmed through not having yet become accustomed to the dark or whether it has come from greater ignorance into greater light and is dazzled by the increased brillance.”
― Plato, The Republic

“…money and honour have no attraction for them; good men do not wish to be openly demanding payment for governing and so to get the name of hirelings, nor by secretly helping themselves out of the public revenues to get the name of thieves. And not being ambitious they do not care about honour. Wherefore necessity must be laid upon them, and they must be induced to serve from the fear of punishment. And this, as I imagine, is the reason why the forwardness to take office, instead of waiting to be compelled, has been deemed dishonourable. Now the worst part of the punishment is that he who refuses to rule is liable to be ruled by one who is worse than himself. And the fear of this, as I conceive, induces the good to take office, not because they would, but because they cannot help — not under the idea that they are going to have any benefit or enjoyment themselves, but as a necessity, and because they are not able to commit the task of ruling to any one who is better than themselves, or indeed as good. For there is reason to think that if a city were composed entirely of good men, then to avoid office would be as much an object of contention as to obtain office is at present…”
― Socrates

“for PEOPLE to rule themselves in a REPUBLIC , they must have virtue;for a TYRANT to rule in a TYRANNY ,he must use FEAR.”
― William J Federer, Change to Chains-The 6,000 Year Quest for Control -Volume I-Rise of the Republic

“While this America settles in the mould of its vulgarity,
heavily thickening to empire, I
And protest, only a bubble in the molten mass, pops
and sighs out, and the mass hardens,

I sadly smiling remember that the flower fades to make
fruit, the fruit rots to make earth.
Qut of the mother; and through the spring exultances,
ripeness and decadence; and home to the mother.

You making haste haste on decay: not blameworthy; life
is good, be it stubbornly long or suddenly
A mortal splendor: meteors are not needed less than
mountains: shine, perishing republic.

But for my children. I would have them keep their dis-
tance from the thickening center; corruption.
Never has been compulsory, when the cities lie at the
monster’s feet there are left the mountajns.

And boys, be in nothing so moderate as in love of man,
a clever servant, insufferable master.
There is the trap that catches noblest spirits, that caught
-–they say--God, when he walked on earth.”
― Robinson Jeffers, Selected Poems

“My African roots made me what I am today. They’re the reason I’m from the Dominican Republic. They’re the reason I exist at all. To these roots I owe everything.”
― Junot Díaz

“We've heard many people say and have often said ourselves that justice is doing one's own work and not meddling with what isn't one's own ... Then, it turns out that this doing one's own work-provided that it comes to be in a certain way-is justice.”
― Plato, The Republic

“As the nation divided into Federalists and Republicans, each group called the other the worst name possible: "party". Most Americans feared the idea of party; believing that a society should unite to achieve the public good, they denounced parties as groups of ambitious men selfishly competing for power. Worse, parties were danger signals for a republic; if parties dominated a republic's politics, its days were numbered.”
― R.B. Bernstein, Thomas Jefferson

“At heart, American conservatives like myself are believers in the Constitution. We believe that the principles embodied in the Constitution are enduring, and that to whatever extent we deviate from them we put our liberties at risk. Our views are consistent because we believe in absolute truths and the essential soundness, even righteousness, of the Founder's vision of government.”
― Sean Hannity, Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty over Liberalism

“God grant that men of principle shall be our principal men.”
― Thomas Jefferson

“«Ἀνάγκης θυγατρός κόρης Λαχέσεως λόγος. Ψυχαὶ ἐφήμεροι, ἀρχὴ ἂλλης περιόδου θνητοῦ γένους θανατηφόρου. Οὐχ ὑμᾶς δαίμων λήξεται, ἀλλ’ ὑμεῖς δαίμονα αἱρήσεσθε. Πρῶτος δ’ ὁ λαχών πρῶτος αἱρείσθω βίον ᾧ συνέσται ἐξ ἀνάγκης. Ἀρετὴ δὲ ἀδέσποτον, ἣν τιμῶν καὶ ἀτιμάζων πλέον καὶ ἒλαττον αὐτῆς ἓκαστος ἓξει. Αἰτία ἑλομένου. θεὸς ἀναίτιος.»”
― Plato

“A representative owes not just his industry but his judgement”
― Edmund Burke

“In examining the division of powers, as established by the Federal Constitution, remarking on the one hand the portion of sovereignty which has been reserved to the several States, and on the other, the share of power which has been given to the Union, it is evident that the Federal legislators entertained very clear and accurate notions respecting the centralization of government. The United States form not only a republic, but a confederation; yet the national authority is more centralized there than it was in several of the absolute monarchies of Europe....”
― Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

“Where where where
are we headed?
as individuals?
as a nation?
a world?

Where where where are we headed?
Which path will we take?
Who will go with us
and what will we carry?

And will we survive the treacherous journey?
Will we know when the votes have been cast?
Will we know when the totals are tallied?

...My head and my heart
churn to know.”
― Shellen Lubin

“For, let me tell you that the more the pleasures of the body fade away, the greater to me are the pleasure and charm of conversation.”
― Plato, Republic: Books 1-5

“Und nicht wahr, wenn man ihn zwänge, in das Licht selbst zu sehen, so würde er Schmerzen an den Augen haben, davonlaufen und sich wieder jenen Schattengegenständen zuwenden, die er ansehen kann, und würde dabei bleiben, diese wären wirklich deutlicher als die, welche er gezeigt bekam?

And if he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he not have a pain in his eyes which will make him turn away to take and take in the objects of vision which he can see, and which he will conceive to be in reality clearer than the things which are now being shown to him?”
― Plato, The Republic

“Never in a monarchy can the opulence of an individual put him above the prince; but, in a republic, it can easily put him above the laws. Then the government no longer has force, and the rich are always the true sovereign.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Politics and the Arts: Letter to M. D'Alembert on the Theatre

“no one is willing to govern; because no one likes to take in hand the reformation of evils which are not his concern without renumeration.”
― Plato, The Republic

“the true ruler is not meant by nature to regard his own interest, but that of his subjects”
― Plato, The Republic

“the just does not desire more than his like but more than his unlike, whereas the unjust desires more than both his like and unlike”
― Plato, The Republic

“Surely the gods are just?"

"Granted that they are."

"But if so, the unjust will be the enemy of the gods, and the just will be their friend?”
― Plato, The Republic

“The factor that contributed most to the demise of the Republic was not, in fact, the war, but rampant self-interest. Endemic to the political process our ancestors engineered, the insidious pursuit of self-enrichment grew only more pervasive through the long centuries, and in the end left the body politic feckless and corrupt. Consider the self-interest of the Core Worlds, unwavering in their exploitation of the Outer Systems for resources; the Outer Systems themselves, undermined by their permissive disregard of smuggling and slavery; those ambitious members of the Senate who sought only status and opportunity.”
― James Luceno, Tarkin

“The republic is nothing whatever but—absolute monarchy; for it makes no difference whether the monarch is called prince or people, both being a "majesty.”
― Max Stirner, The Ego and Its Own

“...because he is just; moreover he is hated by his friends and acquaintance for refusing to serve them in unlawful ways.”
― plato, The Republic

“القرارات الجمهورية قرارات إلهية، لا استئناف فيها ولا نقض ولا إبرام”
― مصطفى أمين, سنة رابعة سجن