The happy life is thought to be one of excellence; now an excellent life requires exertion, and does not consist in amusement.

Why do men seek honour? Surely in order to confirm the favorable opinion they have formed of themselves.

All men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves...

We can do noble acts without ruling the earth and sea.

Property should be in a general sense common, but as a general rule private... In well-ordered states, although every man has his own property, some things he will place at the disposal of his friends, while of others he shares the use of them.

Men create gods after their own image, not only with regard to their form but with regard to their mode of life.

The first essential responsibility of the state is control of the market-place: there must be some official charged with the duty of seeing that honest dealing and good order prevail. For one of the well-nigh essential activities of all states is the buying and selling of goods to meet their mutual basic needs; this is the quickest way to self-sufficiency, which seems to be what moves men to combine under a single constitution.