Today’s repost was originally published on my blog on September 29, 2021. Portions of this post were adapted from Wikipedia, philosphy.com, goodreads quotes, and Google graphics.
The Republic was authored by Plato around 375 BC. This dialogue concerned justice, the order and character of the just city-state, and the just man. It has become Plato’s best-known work and has proven to be one of the world’s most influential works of philosophy and political theory, both intellectually and historically. A Brief Synopsis of The Republic
In the dialogue, Plato has Socrates talk with various Athenians and foreigners about the meaning of justice and whether the just man is happier than the unjust man. In the dialogue Plato considers the nature of existing regimes and then proposes a series of different, hypothetical cities in comparison, culminating in Kallipolis, a utopian city-state ruled by a philosopher-king. He also discuss the theory of forms, the immortality of the soul, and the role of the philosopher and of poetry in society.
Some of the more meaningful statements from The Republic:
“The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.”
“If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things.”
“The object of education is to teach us to love what is beautiful.”
“Money-makers are tiresome company, as they have no standard but cash value.”
“The philosopher whose dealings are with divine order himself acquires the characteristics of order and divinity.”
One major thought that Plato leaves us with is this statement from The Republic:
“And whenever any one informs us that he has found a man who knows all the arts, and all things else that anybody knows, and every single thing with a higher degree of accuracy than any other man –whoever tells us this, I think that we can only imagine him to be a simple creature who is likely to have been deceived by some wizard or actor whom he met, and whom he thought all-knowing, because he himself was unable to analyze the nature of knowledge and ignorance and imitation.”
MJO – 2023
It is true, reading requires time, but the benefits of it outweigh all the investments you make in this rewarding activity. As I have previously posted, books fight stress, broaden your outlook, and create better chances for a successful career. In addition, you develop critical and creative thinking and become more empathetic towards the communities around you.
It seems that in America, and throughout the world, people are always looking for a hero — in literature and in their daily lives. Author, Raymond Chandler had some definite ideas about characters, especially heroes.
Many avid readers, like myself, have a stack of books that they are going to read next, or at least in the near future. However, there are also some readers who can never decide what they want to read next. I discovered a website, 
I’m not sure who should be credited with the statement, “It’s Simple But Not Easy” because I’ve read it in numerous business, self-help, and motivational books. The statement is just five short words but is very powerful and meaningful. The statement explains in simple terms the very nature of our human dilemma. Most of us, including myself, would like quick fixes and solutions to the problems, issues, and conditions in our lives and we realize that the solutions, or remedies are simple but not easy to apply.
Over the weekend we received our new area rug for our living room. Even though we have wall-to-wall carpeting in our apartment, it is light a color carpet that shows every little speck of dirt. We decided that an area rug may be the solution to cleaning the rug every three months. It looks great and hopefully will give us years of beauty and pleasure. It is funny how the simple little things in life can make us happy.
The Bookman's Page 
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