And yet the true creator is necessity, which is the mother of invention.

For imagining lies within our power whenever we wish . . . but in forming opinons we are not free . . .

A state of the soul is either (1) an emotion, (2) a capacity, or (3) a disposition; virtue therefore must be one of these three things.

Nor need it cause surprise that things disagreeable to the good man should seem pleasant to some men; for mankind is liable to many corruptions and diseases, and the things in question are not really pleasant, but only pleasant to these particular persons, who are in a condition to think them so.

It is evident that the state is a creation of nature, and that man is by nature a political animal.

Tragedy is an imitation not of men but of a life, an action

The government of freemen is nobler and implies more virtue than despotic government. Neither is a city to be deemed happy or a legislator to be praised because he trains his citizens to conquer and obtain dominion over their neighbors, for there is great evil in this.