Wednesday, April 9, 2008

timeless truth


"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly,
while bad people will find a way around the laws."

- Plato (427-347 B.C.)


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I still prefer a government based on the rule of law and not force majeure.

Earl said...

law is government, as a noun, but government as a excuse is above the law, which remains only a noun -- ask the President, King, Prime Minister why they do things that aren't in the law...

reasonable and responsible people don't need government but may get it anyway - NAZI Germany was based on rule of law, Communist China is based on rule of law...

Weer'd Beard said...

OMG!!! BUT PLATO COULD NEVER HAVE THUNK ABOUT T3H SEMI-AUTO ASSAULT WEAPONS!!111!!1111

Great Quote, Breda. I'm suprised I'd never read that one before.

phlegmfatale said...

The truth is eternal.

Anonymous said...

Its funny you should post that today.

The result of a two hour discussion in my Law and Ethics class (last night) was that: people need the law to remind them what to do, and that with out the force of law keeping people civil society will fall apart. The corollary to that is that people must understand laws created 'for their own good' and abide by them, because its best for everyone.

When the mention of banning junk food to improve public health was brought up, the consensus was that its a good idea, and we need to get on that.

There were three of us arguing against the rest of the class (and I think the prof, but he usually plays devil's advocate, so I'm not sure): Me; A woman from Mexico, who's story I don't know; and a guy who left china after his involvement in the student protests that ended w/ the Tienemen Square massacre (he was leading a student protest in the south of the country).

I fear for our society when MBA students feel they need laws to define how they should behave.

Earl said...

They want the laws to define how others should behave. Governors don't break the Mann Act frivolously...