It makes no difference whether a good man has defrauded a bad man, or a bad man defrauded a good man, or whether a good or bad man has committed adultery: the law can look only to the amount of damage done.

Through discipline comes freedom.

A very populous city can rarely, if ever, be well governed.

Friends are much better tried in bad fortune than in good.

And this activity alone would seem to be loved for its own sake; for nothing arises from it apart from the contemplating, while from practical activities we gain more or less apart from the action. And happiness is thought to depend on leisure; for we are busy that we may have leisure, and make war that we may live in peace.

Those that deem politics beneath their dignity are doomed to be governed by those of lesser talents.

Friends enhance our ability to think and act.