Some things the legislator must find ready to his hand in a state, others he must provide. And therefore we can only say: May our state be constituted in such a manner as to be blessed with the goods of which fortune disposes (for we acknowledge her power): whereas virtue and goodness in the state are not a matter of chance but the result of knowledge and purpose. A city can be virtuous only when the citizens who have a share in the government are virtuous, and in our state all the citizens share in the government.

The ensouled is distinguished from the unsouled by its being alive. Now since being alive is spoken of in many ways, even if only one of these is present, we say that the thing is alive, if, for instance, there is intellect or perception or spatial movement and rest or indeed movement connected with nourishment and growth and decay. It is for this reason that all the plants are also held to be alive . . .

Neither old people nor sour people seem to make friends easily; for there is little that is pleasant in them.

He who cannot see the truth for himself, nor, hearing it from others, store it away in his mind, that man is utterly worthless.

Teaching is the highest form of understanding.

A change in the shape of the body creates a change in the state of the soul.

The soul suffers when the body is diseased or traumatized, while the body suffers when the soul is ailing.