Even the best of men in authority are liable to be corrupted by passion. We may conclude then that the law is reason without passion, and it is therefore preferable to any individual.

Our virtues are voluntary (and in fact we are in a sense ourselves partly the cause of our moral dispositions, and it is our having a certain character that makes us set up an end of a certain kind), it follows that our vices are voluntary also; they are voluntary in the same manner as our virtues.

Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.

...for all men do their acts with a view to achieving something which is, in their view, a good.

Between husband and wife friendship seems to exist by nature, for man is naturally disposed to pairing.

We become just by the practice of just actions.

Those that deem politics beneath their dignity are doomed to be governed by those of lesser talents.