A genuinely political society, in which discussion and debate are an essential technique, is a society full of risks.

We must consider not only why the classical theory of democracy appears to be in contradiction with the observed practice, but also why the many different responses to this observation, though mutually incompatible, all share the belief that democracy is the best form of political organization.

A genuinely political society, in which discussion and debate are an essential technique, is a society full of risks.

If I had to choose one which best characterized the condition of being a political leader in Athens, the word would be "tension".

It is a mark of civilised man that he seeks to understand his traditions, and to criticise them, not to swallow them whole.

man is by nature designed to live in the polis, the highest form of koinonia, community; that is man's end or goal if he achieves the full potentiality of his nature.

Knowledge for its own sake was meaningless, its mere accumulation a waste of time. Knowledge must lead to understanding.