Art not only imitates nature, but also completes its deficiencies.

There are still two forms besides democracy and oligarchy; one of them is universally recognized and included among the four principal forms of government, which are said to be (1) monarchy, (2) oligarchy, (3) democracy, and (4) the so-called aristocracy or government of the best. But there is also a fifth, which retains the generic name of polity or constitutional government.

Happiness depends on ourselves.

In all well-attempered governments there is nothing which should be more jealously maintained than the spirit of obedience to law, more especially in small matters; for transgression creeps in unperceived and at last ruins the state, just as the constant recurrence of small expenses in time eats up a fortune.

That in the soul which is called the mind is, before it thinks, not actually any real thing.

In order to be effective you need not only virtue but also mental strength.

Love well, be loved and do something of value.