At his best, man is the noblest of all animals separated from law and justice he is the worst.
Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.
Man is by nature a political animal.
All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire.
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.
It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.
It is Homer who has chiefly taught other poets the art of telling lies skillfully.
In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.
Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind.
Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.
Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.
Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.
If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is nature's way.
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
A friend to all is a friend to none.
Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.
The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.
A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.
The state comes into existence for the sake of life and continues to exist for the sake of good life.
The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.
Hope is the dream of a waking man.
Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.
Homer has taught all other poets the art of telling lies skillfully.
Bashfulness is an ornament to youth, but a reproach to old age.
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.
The secret to humor is surprise.
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.
What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.
Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth.
You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.
For though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first.
Bad men are full of repentance.
Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.
Therefore, the good of man must be the end of the science of politics.
He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled.
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.
Nature does nothing in vain.
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.
Politicians also have no leisure, because they are always aiming at something beyond political life itself, power and glory, or happiness.
Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.
Change in all things is sweet.
Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.
Wit is educated insolence.
Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last.
Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.
The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.
Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way.
There is no great genius without a mixture of madness.
Happiness depends upon ourselves.
Hope is a waking dream.
My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.
The energy of the mind is the essence of life.
Friendship is essentially a partnership.
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.
Men create gods after their own image, not only with regard to their form but with regard to their mode of life.
Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.
Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.
The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.
The best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.
He who hath many friends hath none.
What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.
Quality is not an act, it is a habit.