The true end of tragedy is to purify the passions.
Boundaries don't protect rivers, people do.
Selfishness doesn't consist in a love to yourself, but in a big degree of such love.
That rule is the better which is exercised over better subjects.
As for the story, whether the poet takes it ready made or constructs it for himself, he should first sketch its general outline, and then fill in the episodes and amplify in detail.
Man perfected by society is the best of all animals; he is the most terrible of all when he lives without law, and without justice.