A ship's crew mutinies against the only sailor who can read the stars

In Plato's Republic, Socrates likens democracy to a ship whose sailors brawl over the helm, flatter the crowd, and dismiss the one navigator who actually understands the stars and winds as a useless dreamer. His point: real skill at governing is rare and unpopular, so societies keep choosing loud captains over qualified ones.

— Plato, The Republic, Book VI — c. 375 BC, 488a-489d
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