I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.
There is no great genius without some touch of madness.
Men create gods after their own image, not only with regard to their form but with regard to their mode of life.
He who hath many friends hath none.
Hence poetry is something more philosophic and of graver import than history, since its statements are rather of the nature of universals, whereas those of history are singulars.
Homer has taught all other poets the art of telling lies skillfully.
Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.
For though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first.
Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.
The young are permanently in a state resembling intoxication.
Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.
The beginning of reform is not so much to equalize property as to train the noble sort of natures not to desire more, and to prevent the lower from getting more.
There was never a genius without a tincture of madness.
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.
It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.
Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.
Education is the best provision for old age.
The whole is more than the sum of its parts.
The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons.
The soul never thinks without a picture.
