Inasmuch as every family is a part of a state, and these relationships are the parts of a family, and the virtue of the part must have regard to the virtue of the whole, women and children must be trained by education with an eye to the constitution, if the virtues of either of them are supposed to make any difference in the virtues of the state. And they must make a difference: for the children grow up to be citizens, and half the free persons in a state are women.

All that one gains by falsehood is, not to be believed when he speaks the truth.

We must as second best, as people say, take the least of the evils.

Friendship is a thing most necessary to life, since without friends no one would choose to live, though possessed of all other advantages.

The ideal man is his own best friend and takes delight in privacy.

The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law.

Education is the best provision for old age.