States are doomed when they are unable to distinguish good men from bad.
There are only two people who can tell you the truth about yourself, an enemy who has lost his temper and a friend who loves you dearly.
The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue.
Not to unlearn what you have learned is the most necessary kind of learning.
It is a royal privilege to do good and be ill spoken of.
The investigation of the meaning of words is the beginning of education.
When brothers agree, no fortress is so strong as their common life.
I’d rather be mad than feel pleasure.
Wealth and poverty do not lie in a man’s estate, but in men’s souls.
It is better to fall in with crows than with flatterers; for in the one case you are devoured when dead, in the other case while alive .
How to get rid of having anything to unlearn.
Observe your enemies, for they first find out your faults.
The most necessary learning is that which unlearns evil.
To all my friends without distinction I am ready to display my opulence: come one, come all; and whosoever likes to take a share is welcome to the wealth that lies within my soul.
As rust corrupts iron, so envy corrupts man.
We weed out the darnel from the corn and the unfit in war, but do not excuse evil men from the service of the state.
We must not contradict, but instruct him that contradicts us; for a madman is not cured by another running mad also.
The advantages of philosophy? That I am able to hold converse with myself.