Philosophy begins with wonder.
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.
That which is impossible and probable is better than that which is possible and improbable.
Goodness is to do good to the deserving and love the good and hate the wicked, and not to be eager to inflict punishment or take vengeance, but to be gracious and kindly and forgiving.
People do not naturally become morally excellent or practically wise. They become so, if at all, only as the result of lifelong personal and community effort.
The avarice of mankind is insatiable; at one time two obols was pay enough; but now, when this sum has become customary, men always want more and more without end.
Even that some people try deceived me many times ... I will not fail to believe that somewhere, someone deserves my trust.
Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.
The actuality of thought is life.
To know what virtue is is not enough; we must endeavor to possess and to practice it, or in some other manner actually ourselves to become good.
A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.
Memory is the scribe of the soul.
Salt water when it turns into vapour becomes sweet, and the vapour does not form salt water when it condenses again. This I know by experiment. The same thing is true in every case of the kind: wine and all fluids that evaporate and condense back into a liquid state become water. They all are water modified by a certain admixture, the nature of which determines their flavour.
Nature does nothing in vain.
There is an ideal of excellence for any particular craft or occupation; similarly there must be an excellent that we can achieve as human beings. That is, we can live our lives as a whole in such a way that they can be judged not just as excellent in this respect or in that occupation, but as excellent, period. Only when we develop our truly human capacities sufficiently to achieve this human excellent will we have lives blessed with happiness.
The greatest injustices proceed from those who pursue excess, not by those who are driven by necessity.
The same ideas, one must believe, recur in men's minds not once or twice but again and again.
Teaching is the highest form of understanding.
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.
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.
The physician himself, if sick, actually calls in another physician, knowing that he cannot reason correctly if required to judge his own condition while suffering.
When you ask a dumb question, you get a smart answer.
The senses are gateways to the intelligence. There is nothing in the intelligence which did not first pass through the senses.
Nature operates in the shortest way possible.
Nothing is what rocks dream about
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