Character gives us qualities, but it is in our actions — what we do — that we are happy or the reverse.

When we look at the matter from another point of view, great caution would seem to be required. For the habit of lightly changing the laws is an evil, and, when the advantage is small, some errors both of lawgivers and rulers had better be left; the citizen will not gain so much by making the change as he will lose by the habit of disobedience.

The guest will judge better of a feast than the cook

There is more both of beauty and of raison d'etre in the works of nature- than in those of art.

The same ideas, one must believe, recur in men's minds not once or twice but again and again.

Special care should be taken of the health of the inhabitants, which will depend chiefly on the healthiness of the locality and of the quarter to which they are exposed, and secondly on the use of pure water; this latter point is by no means a secondary consideration. For the elements which we use the most and oftenest for the support of the body contribute most to health, and among those are water and air. Wherefore, in all wise states, if there is want of pure water, and the supply is not all equally good, the drinking water ought to be separated from that which is used for other purposes.

He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.