People do not naturally become morally excellent or practically wise. They become so, if at all, only as the result of lifelong personal and community effort.

Because the rich are generally few in number, while the poor are many, they appear to be antagonistic, and as the one or the other prevails they form the government. Hence arises the common opinion that there are two kinds of government - democracy and oligarchy.

Masculine republics give way to feminine democracies, and feminine democracies give way to tyranny.

To love someone is to identify with them.

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.

There are some jobs in which it is impossible for a man to be virtuous.

That which is impossible and probable is better than that which is possible and improbable.