Plato's "The Republic" or the US Constitution.

A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it'll shine out the clearer. I know now folks in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something. That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for

Jeffries is the wrong man at the wrong hour. And old, decrepit institutions will always protect themselves at the expense of their image.