Just as a royal rule, if not a mere name, must exist by virtue of some great personal superiority in the king, so tyranny, which is the worst of governments, is necessarily the farthest removed from a well-constituted form; oligarchy is little better, for it is a long way from aristocracy, and democracy is the most tolerable of the three.

The whole is more than the sum of its parts.

In inventing a model we may assume what we wish, but should avoid impossibilities.

Since music has so much to do with the molding of character, it is necessary that we teach it to our children.

We maintain, and have said in the Ethics, if the arguments there adduced are of any value, that happiness is the realization and perfect exercise of virtue, and this not conditional, but absolute. And I used the term 'conditional' to express that which is indispensable, and 'absolute' to express that which is good in itself.

All friendly feelings toward others come from the friendly feelings a person has for himself.

All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right, and not what is established.