"All things will be produced in superior quantity and quality, and with greater ease, when each man works at a single occupation, in accordance with his natural gifts, and at the right moment, without meddling with anything else"
About this Quote
Efficiency gets dressed up as destiny here. Plato pitches specialization as common sense - more output, better output, less strain - but the real move is moral and political: turning a social arrangement into a “natural” one. “In accordance with his natural gifts” isn’t a neutral observation; it’s the philosophical grease that makes hierarchy slide into place without looking like coercion. If people belong in different roles by nature, then the division of labor stops being a compromise and becomes a kind of justice.
The line’s quiet aggression is in “without meddling.” That word does more than warn against distraction. It polices ambition. It frames cross-class curiosity as interference, even corruption: the shoemaker thinking about governance isn’t civic engagement, it’s meddling. Plato is writing in the shadow of Athenian democracy’s volatility and the trauma of Socrates’ execution; the fantasy is a city stabilized by trained competence, not swayed by amateurs, demagogues, or crowded assemblies.
Contextually, this is The Republic’s founding logic for the ideal polis: assign each person to the work they’re best suited for, and the whole machine runs smoothly. The subtext is that freedom is a secondary value; harmony matters more. Plato sells order through the language of productivity - “superior quantity and quality” - because it makes obedience sound like optimization. The quote works because it fuses an economic truth (practice improves skill) with a metaphysical claim (your place is written into you), and that fusion is persuasive precisely where it’s most dangerous.
The line’s quiet aggression is in “without meddling.” That word does more than warn against distraction. It polices ambition. It frames cross-class curiosity as interference, even corruption: the shoemaker thinking about governance isn’t civic engagement, it’s meddling. Plato is writing in the shadow of Athenian democracy’s volatility and the trauma of Socrates’ execution; the fantasy is a city stabilized by trained competence, not swayed by amateurs, demagogues, or crowded assemblies.
Contextually, this is The Republic’s founding logic for the ideal polis: assign each person to the work they’re best suited for, and the whole machine runs smoothly. The subtext is that freedom is a secondary value; harmony matters more. Plato sells order through the language of productivity - “superior quantity and quality” - because it makes obedience sound like optimization. The quote works because it fuses an economic truth (practice improves skill) with a metaphysical claim (your place is written into you), and that fusion is persuasive precisely where it’s most dangerous.
Quote Details
| Topic | Work Ethic |
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