Please submit by 19th June 2008. What does this quote mean??

Question

"A man cannot become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall."- Aristotle

Answer 1

a lot of those kind of sayings can mean a lot of things, just depends on how you 'translate' it and whether or not if you can back it up with any of your own ideas. So if you are asking for the meaning because you got to write an essay or something,  then just do what you think it means and find a logical way to back it up.

But in my opinion I think it means something like...

Someone is not a real hero if they cannot see their own problems, mistakes, and things they have failed at and needed help at themselves.

Answer 2

it basically means

a man can't really be a hero until he can see his own hubris, his own fatal flaw.  he has to realize that he is not perfect and that he can not do everything.

Answer 3

My take on this quote is that it's a "nothing ventured, nothing gained" kind of thing. That is, if you cannot see the possibility of failure, downfall, loss or even death, there is no possibility of being heroic. Someone who is heedless of risk is not even brave let alone heroic. Someone who fully appreciates risk and, nevertheless, proceeds...that is someone who is heroic. I can think of no better example than the sight on 9-11 of survivors descending stairs while the firemen were going upward. Those guys, totally knowledgeable about the likelihood of death and injury, who went up to do their duty anyway, were truly heroes.

Answer 4

I dunno, but cool though.

Answer 5

I think it means that you cannot help anyone else until you realize that you aren't perfect either.

Answer 6

That until one knows one's weaknesses, one cannot accomplish all one is capable of. Suppose somebody set out to earn a lot of money to help out a family member. If the person tended to make bad decisions about spending but didn't realize that, the money might be all gone before assistance could be offered. However, if the person knew that money flew out of his pocket , the help could be offered before the money could be spent.