And yet all the time he may be right.

He may know, in this very instance, that those who make philosophy the business of their lives, generally turn out rogues if they are bad men, and fools if they are good.

What do you say ?' I should say that he is quite right.
'Then how is such an admission reconcileable with the doctrine that philosophers should be kings ?' I shall answer you in a parable which will also let you see how poor a hand I am at the invention of allegories.

The relation of good men to their governments is so peculiar, that in order to defend them I must take an illustration from the world of fiction.

Conceive the captain of a ship, taller by a head and shoulders than any of the crew, yet a little deaf, a little blind, and rather ignorant of the seaman's art.
The sailors want to steer, although they know nothing of the art; and they have a theory that it cannot be learned.