Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms.

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

To leave the number of births unrestricted, as is done in most states, inevitably causes poverty among the citizens, and poverty produces crime and faction.

There are branches of learning and education which we must study merely with a view to leisure spent in intellectual activity, and these are to be valued for their own sake; whereas those kinds of knowledge which are useful in business are to be deemed necessary, and exist for the sake of other things.

The energy or active exercise of the mind constitutes life.

In the works of Nature, purpose, not accident, is the main thing.

It is of the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it.