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Moses Finley

Moses Finley Quotes

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Moses Finley was an influential historian known for his profound research on the economic, social, and political structures of ancient Greece and Rome. His unique approach to history, focusing on economic analysis, provided new insights into the ancient world.

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Famous Moses Finley Quotes

“In the western world today everyone is a democrat.”

World Today Democrat Western World Today Western World

Author:Moses Finley

“Perhaps the best known, and certainly the most vaunted, "discovery" of modern public opinion research is the indifference and ignorance of a majority of the electorate in western democracies.”

Known Opinion Democracy Modern Ignorance Research Discovery Majority Western Indifference Public Opinion Electorate

Book:Democracy ancient and modern

Source: Democracy ancient and modern

“Ideal goals are a menace in themselves, as much in more modern philosophers as in Plato.”

Goal Modern Ideals Philosopher Plato Menace

Author:Moses Finley

“We must consider not only why the classical theory of democracy appears to be in contradiction with the observed practice, but also why the many different responses to this observation, though mutually incompatible, all share the belief that democracy is the best form of political organization.”

Different Form Political Belief Practice Democracy Share Theory Organization Response Observation Contradiction

Author:Moses Finley

“Political leaders, lacking documents that could be kept secret (apart from the occasional exception), lacking media they could control, were of necessity brought into a direct and immediate relationship with their constituents, and therefore under more and direct and immediate control.”

Political Secret Leader Media Direct Exception Documents Lacking Occasional Constituents Political Leaders Kept Secrets

Author:Moses Finley

“Faction is the greatest evil and the most common danger. "Faction" is the conventional English translation of the Greek stasis, one of the most remarkable words to be found in any language.”

Evil Found Language Common Danger Greek Remarkable Conventional Translations Factions Stasis

Author:Moses Finley

“If I had to choose one which best characterized the condition of being a political leader in Athens, the word would be "tension".”

Ifs Would Be Political Leader Conditions Tension Political Leaders Athens

Author:Moses Finley

“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 been introduced had there been no Athenian empire.”

Has Beens Half Effects Century Democratic Arguing Empires Fifth Athenians

Author:Moses Finley

“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 achieves the full potentiality of his nature.”

Ifs Men Ends Form Goal Community Achieve Highest Polis

Author:Moses Finley

“Historical explanation is not identical with moral judgment.”

Moral Judgment Historical Explanation Identical Moral Judgment

Author:Moses Finley

“A genuinely political society, in which discussion and debate are an essential technique, is a society full of risks.”

Political Risk Essentials Technique Debate Discussion

Author:Moses Finley

“Knowledge for its own sake was meaningless, its mere accumulation a waste of time. Knowledge must lead to understanding.”

Understanding Waste Management Mere Sake Meaningless Wasting Time Accumulation

Author:Moses Finley

“It is a mark of civilised man that he seeks to understand his traditions, and to criticise them, not to swallow them whole.”

Men Whole History Tradition Mark Civilised Criticise

Author:Moses Finley

About the Author

Born: May 20, 1912
Died: June 23, 1986
Known for: Author
Quotes: 13

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