“A nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. For the traitor appears not a traitor. He speaks in the accents familiar to his victims, and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men.”
Please share widely!
Fred Rich Lariccia, thank you for implicitly reminding us why we need to restore study of history at all levels of public education.
The human condition, through progress and retrogression alike, remains the same.
We therefore have a tremendous amount to learn from wise philosophers from every age and culture.
“Why stupidity is more dangerous than evil.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945) “On Stupidity” Letters and papers from prison. German Lutheran theologian hanged by the Nazis for his involvement in a plot against Hitler
“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force.
Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless.
Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not to be believed – in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical – and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.”
The funny thing about his post and your comment is that the quote is fake. O tempora! O mores!
Cicero on Treason continues : “He rots the soul of a nation — he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city — he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared.”
Um… still not Cicero.
Fred, my friend, I urge you to walk away from this thread.
You are quoting from a fictional text.
After researching, attribution should to be the novelist Taylor Caldwell.
From the Fact Check : “Although these words are now widely attributed to Cicero, in fact they originated in the 20th century, with Taylor Caldwell’s 1965 book A Pillor of Iron. Even though that work often drew directly from the recorded speeches and letters of Cicero for its dialogue, it was nonetheless a work of fiction, and the warning from Cicero about ‘treason from within’ was an invention of Caldwell’s and not a reproduction of Cicero’s own words.”
Thanks to tedf and Somerville Tom for the correction.
If you want to accurately quote Cicero you probably need to put your verbs at the ends of your sentences:)