Diedra asked:

Can you help me dislodge the dustbin of my mind? I remember from school reading a short
paragraph in which the writer laments the old days when youth were respectful of their elders. He
decried the youths' unkept appearance and shameful hedonistic ways, on and on he went. The
surprising source I believe was one of our more famous ancient philosophers. Can you help me
locate this passage?

============

You're thinking of a statement often attributed to Socrates, perhaps in the following form:

Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for
their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they
contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.

However, this supposed quotation is completely bogus. There is no record of Socrates ever having
said anything of the kind. For a discussion of how this mythical quote arose, see:

http://www.mindspring.com/~samhobbs/alt-quotations/quotations.html#socratesonyouth

Torkel Franzen

One possibility is Plato'sRepublicBook 4, 425b. Here Socrates, speaking of things people in his
"Ideal" society will find out, and which he seems to think have been generally neglected, says:

I mean such things as these: — when the young are to be silent before their elders; how they are to
show respect to them by standing and making them sit; what honour is due to parents; what garments
or shoes are to be worn; the mode of dressing the hair; deportment and manners in general. You
would agree with me? — Yes.

Frank Williams
Philosophy and Religion Department
Eastern Kentucky University