Quote collection
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"There is a cropping-time in the races of men, as in the fruits of the field; and sometimes, if the stock be good, there springs up for a time a succession of splendid men; and then comes a period of barrenness."
"We have divided the Virtues of the Soul into two groups, the Virtues of the Character and the Virtues of the Intellect."
"The business of every art is to bring something into existence, and the practice of an art involves the study of how to bring into existence something which is capable of having such an existence and has its efficient cause in the maker and not in itself."
"All that we do is done with an eye to something else."
"Some persons hold that, while it is proper for the lawgiver to encourage and exhort men to virtue on moral grounds, in the expectation that those who have had a virtuous moral upbringing will respond, yet he is bound to impose chastisement and penalties on the disobedient and ill-conditioned, and to banish the incorrigible out of the state altogether. For (they argue) although the virtuous man, who guides his life by moral ideals, will be obedient to reason, the base, whose desires are fixed on pleasure, must be chastised by pain, like a beast of burden."
"Evils draw men together."
"Knowing what is right does not make a sagacious man."
"All communication must lead to change"
"In the many forms of government which have sprung up there has always been an acknowledgement of justice and proportionate equality, although mankind fail in attaining them, as indeed I have already explained. Democracy, for example, 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."
"The true end of tragedy is to purify the passions."
"Our actions determine our dispositions."
"The state comes into existence for the sake of life and continues to exist for the sake of good life."
"For that which has become habitual, becomes as it were natural."
"All learning is derived from things previously known."
"It is not easy for a person to do any great harm when his tenure of office is short, whereas long possession begets tyranny."
"Nothing in life is more necessary than friendship."
"A democracy when put to the strain grows weak, and is supplanted by Oligarchy."
"All men naturally desire knowledge. An indication of this is our esteem for the senses; for apart from their use we esteem them for their own sake, and most of all the sense of sight. Not only with a view to action, but even when no action is contemplated, we prefer sight, generally speaking, to all the other senses. The reason of this is that of all the senses sight best helps us to know things, and reveals many distinctions."
"We ought, so far as it lies within our power, to aspire to immortality, and do all that we can to live in conformity with the highest that is within us; for even if it is small in quantity, in power and preciousness, it far excels all the rest."
"A good character carries with it the highest power of causing a thing to be believed."