“The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”

“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”

“For he, Adeimantus, whose mind is fixed upon true being, has surely no time to look down upon the affairs of earth, or to be filled with malice and envy, contending against men”

“In which, if any, of these constitutions do we find the art of ruling being practiced in the actual government of men? What art is more difficult to learn? But what art is more important to us?”

“The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.”

“False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.”

“Laws are partly formed for the sake of good men, in order to instruct them how they may live on friendly terms with one another, and partly for the sake of those who refuse to be instructed, whose spirit cannot be subdued, or softened, or hindered from plunging into evil.”