It is a mark of civilised man that he seeks to understand his traditions, and to criticise them, not to swallow them whole. — Moses Finley Copy Share Image
Knowledge for its own sake was meaningless, its mere accumulation a waste of time. Knowledge must lead to understanding. — Moses Finley Copy Share Image
We must consider not only why the classical theory of democracy appears to be in contradiction with the observed practice, but also why the… — Moses Finley Copy Share Image
Political leaders, lacking documents that could be kept secret (apart from the occasional exception), lacking media they could control, were of necessity brought into… — Moses Finley Copy Share Image
A genuinely political society, in which discussion and debate are an essential technique, is a society full of risks. — Moses Finley Copy Share Image
Ideal goals are a menace in themselves, as much in more modern philosophers as in Plato. — Moses Finley Copy Share Image
What I am arguing, in effect, is that the full democratic system of the second half of the fifth century B.C. would not have… — Moses Finley Copy Share Image
Perhaps the best known, and certainly the most vaunted, "discovery" of modern public opinion research is the indifference and ignorance of a majority of… — Moses Finley Copy Share Image
Faction is the greatest evil and the most common danger. "Faction" is the conventional English translation of the Greek stasis, one of the most… — Moses Finley Copy Share Image
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… — Moses Finley Copy Share Image
If I had to choose one which best characterized the condition of being a political leader in Athens, the word would be "tension". — Moses Finley Copy Share Image
