Full Idea
We are right to refuse admission to artists in any community which is going to respect convention, because he destroys the rational mind and feeds the irrational - it is like destroying good citizens by giving ruffians power.
Gist of Idea
Artists should be excluded from a law-abiding community, because they destroy the rational mind
Source
Plato (The Republic [c.371 BCE], 605b)
Book Reference
Plato: 'Republic', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [OUP 1993], p.358