Perception starts with the eye.
The greatest threat to the state is not faction but distraction.
Change in all things is sweet.
Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.
The gods too are fond of a joke.
It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.
It is just that we should be grateful, not only to those with whose views we may agree, but also to those who have expressed more superficial views; for these also contributed something, by developing before us the powers of thought.
To run away from trouble is a form of cowardice and, while it is true that the suicide braves death, he does it not for some noble object but to escape some ill.
Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.
Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and choice, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim.
Different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life and forms of government.
What the statesman is most anxious to produce is a certain moral character in his fellow citizens, namely a disposition to virtue and the performance of virtuous actions.
Good moral character is not something that we can achieve on our own. We need a culture that supports the conditions under which self-love and friendship flourish.
It is a part of probability that many improbable things will happen.
Music directly represents the passions of the soul. If one listens to the wrong kind of music, he will become the wrong kind of person.
Man perfected by society is the best of all animals; he is the most terrible of all when he lives without law, and without justice.
Wicked men obey for fear, but the good for love.
For just as for a flute-player, a sculptor, or an artist, and, in general, for all things that have a function or activity, the good and the well is thought to reside in the function, so would it seem to be for man, if he has a function.
The greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor. This alone cannot be imparted by another; it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances.
In general, what is written must be easy to read and easy to speak; which is the same.