The shape of the heaven is of necessity spherical; for that is the shape most appropriate to its substance and also by nature primary.

A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself . . . with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions.

Men agree that justice in the abstract is proportion, but they differ in that some think that if they are equal in any respect they are equal absolutely, others that if they are unequal in any respect they should be unequal in all. The only stable principle of government is equality according to proportion, and for every man to enjoy his own.

The avarice of mankind is insatiable.

He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled.

The virtue of the good man is necessarily the same as the virtue of the citizen of the perfect state.

One citizen differs from another, but the salvation of the community is the common business of them all. This community is the constitution; the virtue of the citizen must therefore be relative to the constitution of which he is a member.