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.
The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor.
It would then be most admirably adapted to the purposes of justice, if laws properly enacted were, as far as circumstances admitted, of themselves to mark out all cases, and to abandon as few as possible to the discretion of the judge.
Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern; it will come out a rose by and by. Life is like that - one stitch at a time taken patiently and the pattern will come out all right like the embroidery.
Wicked me obey from fear; good men,from love.
Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.
When several villages are united in a single complete community, large enough to be nearly or quite self-sufficing, the state comes into existence, originating in the bare needs of life, and continuing in existence for the sake of a good life.
All men by nature desire knowledge.
One who faces and who fears the right things and from the right motive, in the right way and at the right time, posseses character worthy of our trust and admiration.
It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.
Virtue is the golden mean between two vices, the one of excess and the other of deficiency.
A speaker who is attempting to move people to thought or action must concern himself with Pathos.
Shame is an ornament to the young; a disgrace to the old.
The mathematical sciences particularly exhibit order symmetry and limitations; and these are the greatest forms of the beautiful.
Stupidity often saves a man from going mad.
It is through wonder that men now begin and originally began to philosophize; wondering in the first place at obvious perplexities, and then by gradual progression raising questions about the greater matters too.
Adventure is worthwhile.
All that one gains by falsehood is, not to be believed when he speaks the truth.
Life is full of chances and changes, and the most prosperous of men may in the evening of his days meet with great misfortunes.
Our account does not rob the mathematicians of their science... In point of fact they do not need the infinite and do not use it.
To let them share in the highest offices is to take a risk; inevitably, their unjust standards will cause them to commit injustice, and their lack of judgement will lead them into error. On the other hand there is a risk in not giving them a share, and in their non participation, for when there are many who have no property and no honours they inevitably constitute a huge hostile element in the state. But it can still remain open to them to participate in deliberating and judging.
Every virtue is a mean between two extremes, each of which is a vice.
The good citizen need not of necessity possess the virtue which makes a good man.
Now property is part of a household, and the acquisition of property part of household-management; for neither life itself nor the good life is possible without a certain minimum supply of the necessities.
He then alone will strictly be called brave who is fearless of a noble death, and of all such chances as come upon us with sudden death in their train.
Between husband and wife friendship seems to exist by nature, for man is naturally disposed to pairing.
You are what you do repeatedly.
There is nothing grand or noble in having the use of a slave, in so far as he is a slave; or in issuing commands about necessary things. But it is an error to suppose that every sort of rule is despotic like that of a master over slaves, for there is as great a difference between the rule over freemen and the rule over slaves as there is between slavery by nature and freedom by nature . .
And so long as they were at war, their power was preserved, but when they had attained empire they fell, for of the arts of peace they knew nothing, and had never engaged in any employment higher than war.
If you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development
The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.
The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.
If happiness is activity in accordance with excellence, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest excellence.
If you see a man approaching with the obvious intent of doing you good, run for your life.Consider pleasures as they depart, not as they come.
Earthworms are the intenstines of the soil.
There is nothing unequal as the equal treatment of unequals.
Of means of persuading by speaking there are three species: some consist in the character of the speaker; others in the disposing the hearer a certain way; others in the thing itself which is said, by reason of its proving, or appearing to prove the point.
All proofs rest on premises.
It is a good plan to have a book with you in all places and at all times. If you are presently without, hurry without delay to the nearest shop and buy one of mine.
Greed has no boundaries
But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold.
"I was not alone when I was in Goofy hell"
Some things the legislator must find ready to his hand in a state, others he must provide. And therefore we can only say: May our state be constituted in such a manner as to be blessed with the goods of which fortune disposes (for we acknowledge her power): whereas virtue and goodness in the state are not a matter of chance but the result of knowledge and purpose. A city can be virtuous only when the citizens who have a share in the government are virtuous, and in our state all the citizens share in the government.
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
Rhetoric is the counterpart of logic; since both are conversant with subjects of such a nature as it is the business of all to have a certain knowledge of, and which belong to no distinct science. Wherefore all men in some way participate of both; since all, to a certain extent, attempt, as well to sift, as to maintain an argument; as well to defend themselves, as to impeach.
Friends are an aid to the young, to guard them from error; to the elderly, to attend to their wants and to supplement their failing power of action; to those in the prime of life, to assist them to noble deeds.
To be always seeking after the useful does not become free and exalted souls.
Friends enhance our ability to think and act.
We become just by the practice of just actions.
In the works of Nature, purpose, not accident, is the main thing.
There must be in prudence also some master virtue.
We should venture on the study of every kind of animal without distaste; for each and all will reveal to us something natural and something beautiful.
Music directly imitates the passions or states of the soul...when one listens to music that imitates a certain passion, he becomes imbued withthe same passion; and if over a long time he habitually listens to music that rouses ignoble passions, his whole character will be shaped to an ignoble form.
Finally, if nothing can be truly asserted, even the following claim would be false, the claim that there is no true assertion.
Science is the topography of ignorance.
Quality is not an act, it is a habit.
The attainment of truth is then the function of both the intellectual parts of the soul. Therefore their respective virtues are those dispositions which will best qualify them to attain truth.
When there is no middle class, and the poor greatly exceed in number, troubles arise, and the state soon comes to an end.
It is well said, then, that it is by doing just acts that the just man is produced, and by doing temperate acts the temperate man; without doing these no one would have even a prospect of becoming good. But most people do not do these, but take refuge in theory and think they are being philosophers and will become good in this way, behaving somewhat like patients who listen attentively to their doctors, but do none of the things they are ordered to do.
Now all orators effect their demonstrative proofs by allegation either of enthymems or examples, and, besides these, in no other way whatever.
