[I]t is rather the case that we desire something because we believe it to be good than that we believe a thing to be good because we desire it. It is the thought that starts things off.

The greatest victory is over self.

In a polity, each citizen is to possess his own arms, which are not supplied or owned by the state.

Emotions of any kind can be evoked by melody and rhythm; therefore music has the power to form character.

In educating the young we steer them by the rudders of pleasure and pain

Politicians also have no leisure, because they are always aiming at something beyond political life itself, power and glory, or happiness.

Excellence or virtue is a settled disposition of the mind that determines our choice of actions and emotions and consists essentially in observing the mean relative to us ... a mean between two vices, that which depends on excess and that which depends on defect.