He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.
What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.
I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.
For as the eyes of bats are to the blaze of day, so is the reason in our soul to the things which are by nature most evident of all.
Friendship is essentially a partnership.
The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.
Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind.
Hope is a waking dream.
In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
For though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first.
The best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.
What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.
Quality is not an act, it is a habit.
There is no great genius without a mixture of madness.
Man is by nature a political animal.
The energy of the mind is the essence of life.
My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.
Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.
Therefore, the good of man must be the end of the science of politics.
Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.
You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.
Politicians also have no leisure, because they are always aiming at something beyond political life itself, power and glory, or happiness.
Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.
Homer has taught all other poets the art of telling lies skillfully.
He who hath many friends hath none.
A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.
In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme.
All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire.
For one swallow does not make a summer, nor does one day and so too one day, or a short time, does not make a man blessed and happy.
The secret to humor is surprise.
Bashfulness is an ornament to youth, but a reproach to old age.
Wit is educated insolence.
Hope is the dream of a waking man.
At his best, man is the noblest of all animals separated from law and justice he is the worst.
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.
The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.
Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth.
Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
Nature does nothing in vain.
Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.
Bad men are full of repentance.
Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.
Change in all things is sweet.
Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.
It is Homer who has chiefly taught other poets the art of telling lies skillfully.
The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.
Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.
If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is nature's way.
Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.
Those who excel in virtue have the best right of all to rebel, but then they are of all men the least inclined to do so.
He who can be, and therefore is, another's, and he who participates in reason enough to apprehend, but not to have, is a slave by nature.
It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.
Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.
Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way.
Men create gods after their own image, not only with regard to their form but with regard to their mode of life.
Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.
Happiness depends upon ourselves.
He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled.
The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.
The state comes into existence for the sake of life and continues to exist for the sake of good life.
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.
A friend to all is a friend to none.
Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last.