There is a foolish corner in the brain of the wisest man.

All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right, and not what is established.

It is true, indeed, that the account Plato gives in 'Timaeus' is different from what he says in his so-called 'unwritten teachings.'

Philosophy begins with wonder.

The saying of Protagoras is like the views we have mentioned; he said that man is the measure of all things, meaning simply that that which seems to each man assuredly is. If this is so, it follows that the same thing both is and is not, and is bad and good, and that the contents of all other opposite statements are true, because often a particular thing appears beautiful to some and ugly to others, and that which appears to each man is the measure

The light of the day is followed by night, as a shadow follows a body.

The physician heals, Nature makes well.

Nature, as we say, does nothing without some purpose; and for thepurpose of making mana political animal she has endowed him alone among the animals with the power of reasoned speech.

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.

There has never been a genius without some touch of madness.

For pleasure is a state of soul, and to each man that which he is said to be a lover of is pleasant.

He who takes his fill of every pleasure ... becomes depraved; while he who avoids all pleasures alike ... becomes insensible.

Neither by nature, then, nor contrary to nature do the virtues arise in us; rather we are adapted by nature to receive them, and are made perfect by habit.

If then, as we say, good craftsmen look to the mean as they work, and if virtue, like nature, is more accurate and better than any form of art, it will follow that virtue has the quality of hitting the mean. I refer to moral virtue [not intellectual], for this is concerned with emotions and actions, in which one can have excess or deficiency or a due mean.

Where some people are very wealthy and others have nothing, the result will be either extreme democracy or absolute oligarchy, or despotism will come from either of those excesses.

When quarrels and complaints arise, it is when people who are equal have not got equal shares, or vice-versa.

So we must lay it down that the association which is a state exists not for the purpose of living together but for the sake of noble actions. Those who contribute most to this kind of association are for that very reason entitled to a larger share in the state than those who, though they may be equal or even superior in free birth and in family, are inferior in the virtue that belongs to a citizen. Similarly they are entitled to a larger share than those who are superior in riches but inferior in virtue.

An ideal person handles life's challenges gracefully and makes the best of tough situations.

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.

Justice therefore demands that no one should do more ruling than being ruled, but that all should have their turn.

The mass of mankind are evidently slavish in their tastes, preferring a life suitable to beasts.

All humans naturally want to know things.

All men are alike when asleep.

Man by nature wants to know.

Every formed disposition of the soul realizes its full nature in relation to and dealing with that class of objects by which it is its nature to be corrupted or improved.

The soul never thinks without a picture.

Moderation is the right balance when it comes to pleasures.

For both excessive and insufficient exercise destroy one's strength, and both eating and drinking too much or too little destroy health, whereas the right quantity produces, increases and preserves it. So it is the same with temperance, courage and the other virtues. This much then, is clear: in all our conduct it is the mean that is to be commended.

In everything, it is no easy task to find the middle.

Music has the power of producing a certain effect on the moral character of the soul, and if it has the power to do this, it is clear that the young must be directed to music and must be educated in it.

It is not easy to determine the nature of music, or why any one should have a knowledge of it.

A sense is what has the power of receiving into itself the sensible forms of things without the matter, in the way in which a piece of wax takes on the impress of a signet-ring without the iron or gold.

Pay attention to the young, and make them just as good as possible.

Those who know how to do things, do them. Those who truly understand things, teach them.

Ancient laws remain in force long after the people have the power to change them.

The good lawgiver should inquire how states and races of men and communities may participate in a good life, and in the happiness which is attainable by them.

The law is based on reason, free from strong emotions.

The goodness or badness, justice or injustice, of laws varies of necessity with the constitution of states. This, however, is clear, that the laws must be adapted to the constitutions. But if so, true forms of government will of necessity have just laws, and perverted forms of government will have unjust laws.

It is better for a city to be governed by a good man than by good laws.

It is evident, then, that there is a sort of education in which parents should train their sons, not as being useful or necessary, but because it is liberal or noble.

It is the mark of an educated man to look for precision in each class of things just so far as the nature of the subject admits

In educating the young we steer them by the rudders of pleasure and pain

People of superior refinement and of active disposition identify happiness with honour; for this is roughly speaking, the end of political life.

No one praises happiness as one praises justice, but we call it a 'blessing,' deeming it something higher and more divine than things we praise.

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.

My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.

Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.

A friend is a second self, so that our consciousness of a friend's existence...makes us more fully conscious of our own existence.

We should behave to our friends as we would wish our friends behave to us

When people are friends, they have no need of justice, but when they are just, they need friendship in addition.

Nothing in life is more necessary than friendship.

The quality of life is determined by its activities.

Life cannot be lived, and understood, simultaneously.

The bad man is continually at war with, and in opposition to, himself.

Wicked me obey from fear; good men,from love.