Leo Strauss, “What is liberal education,” Liberalism, Ancient and Modern (1968), p. 8.
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Liberal education, which consists in the constant intercourse with the greatest minds, is a training in the highest form of modesty. … It is at the same time a training in boldness. … It demands from us the boldness implied in the resolve to regard the accepted views as mere opinions, or to regard the average opinions as extreme opinions which are at least as likely to be wrong as the most strange or least popular opinions.

— Leo Strauss on Public opinion

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Liberal education, which consists in the constant intercourse with the greatest minds, is a training in the highest form of modesty. … It is at the same time a training in boldness. … It demands from us the boldness implied in the resolve to regard the accepted views as mere opinions, or to regard the average opinions as extreme opinions which are at least as likely to be wrong as the most strange or least popular opinions." in the context of "Leo Strauss, “What is liberal education,” Liberalism, Ancient and Modern (1968), p. 8." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Public opinion" (S) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Leo Strauss

About Leo Strauss

Leo Strauss (September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973) was a German-born American philosopher who specialized in the study of classical political philosophy.