It is absurd to hold that a man should be ashamed of an inability to defend himself with his limbs, but not ashamed of an inability to defend himself with speech and reason; for the use of rational speech is more distinctive of a human being than the use of his limbs.

Bashfulness is an ornament to youth, but a reproach to old age.

Man is by nature a political animal.

Change in all things is sweet.

We must no more ask whether the soul and body are one than ask whether the wax and the figure impressed on it are one.

Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered.

The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.

No notice is taken of a little evil, but when it increases it strikes the eye.

No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness.