“ the stolid, fearless, nature is averse to intellectual toil. ”
Plato, The Republic. copy citation
| Author | Plato |
|---|---|
| Source | The Republic |
| Topic | |
| Date | |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by Benjamin Jowett |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1497/1497-h/1497-h.htm |
Context
“I hesitated to make the assertion which I now hazard,—that our guardians must be philosophers. You remember all the contradictory elements, which met in the philosopher—how difficult to find them all in a single person! Intelligence and spirit are not often combined with steadiness; the stolid, fearless, nature is averse to intellectual toil. And yet these opposite elements are all necessary, and therefore, as we were saying before, the aspirant must be tested in pleasures and dangers; and also, as we must now further add, in the highest branches of knowledge.”
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