Single Idea 20853

[catalogued under 1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 2. Wise People]

Full Idea

The wise man will participate in politics unless something prevents him, for he will restrain vice and promote virtue.

Gist of Idea

Wise men should try to participate in politics, since they are a good influence

Source

report of Chrysippus (fragments/reports [c.240 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 07.121

Book Reference

'The Stoics Reader', ed/tr. Inwood,B/Gerson,L.P. [Hackett 2008], p.122


A Reaction

[from lost On Ways of Life Bk 1] We have made modern politics so hostile for its participants, thanks to cruel media pressure, that the best people now run a mile from it. Disastrous.