This amusing diatribe about young people and their foibles is often
read at graduation ceremonies, and has appeared in print numerous
times. It is generally said to have been penned by Plato, who was
supposedly quoting Socrates. However, like many famous quotes, it
turns out to be of uncertain origin:
"Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989...
AUTHOR: Socrates (469 - 399 B.C.)
QUOTATION: The children now love luxury; they have bad manners,
contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love
chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the
servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter
the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company,
gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their
teachers.
ATTRIBUTION: Attributed to SOCRATES by Plato, according to William L.
Patty and Louise S. Johnson, Personality and Adjustment, p. 277
(1953).
This passage was very popular in the 1960s and its essence was used by
the Mayor of Amsterdam, Gijsbert van Hall, following a street
demonstration in 1966, as reported by The New York Times, April 3,
1966, p. 16. This use prompted Malcolm S. Forbes to write an editorial
on youth.?Forbes, April 15, 1966, p. 11. In that same issue, under the
heading 'Side Lines,' pp. 5?6, is a summary of the efforts of
researchers and scholars to confirm the wording of Socrates, or Plato,
but without success. Evidently, the quotation is spurious."
Bartleby
http://www.bartleby.com/73/195.html
Interestingly, there is a real quote from Plato's Republic which,
while not as punchy as the fake one, makes a similar point about the
idleness of youth:
"The democratic youth . . . lives along day by day, gratifying the
desire that occurs to him, at one time drinking and listening to the
flute, at another downing water and reducing, now practising
gymnastic, and again idling and neglecting everything; and sometimes
spending his time as though he were occupied in philosophy."
DividingLine
http://www.dividingline.com/private/Philosophy/TopPage/Plato_Quote.shtml
Google Web Search: "the children now love luxury" + "socrates"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22the+children+now+love+luxury%22+socrates
This was an enjoyable question to research. I was aware that the
quotation was supposedly from Socrates (via Plato), but I did not know
that scholars had rejected this attribution of authorship. It's a
great quote anyway, and it will probably continue to resonate, as long
as there are old folks like me who look at modern youngsters and say
to ourselves "Kids today, they just don't show any respect."
Best wishes,
pinkfreud |
