If then nature makes nothing without some end in view, nothing to no purpose, it must be that nature has made all of them for the sake of man.

The purpose of art is to represent the meaning of things. This represents the true reality, not external aspects.

All men, or most men, wish what is noble but choose what is profitable; and while it is noble to render a service not with an eye to receiving one in return, it is profitable to receive one. One ought therefore, if one can, to return the equivalent of services received, and to do so willingly; for one ought not to make a man one's friend if one is unwilling to return his favors.

Courage is the first virtue that makes all other virtues possible.

Distance does not break off the friendship absolutely, but only the activity of it.

Laws, when good, should be supreme; and that the magistrate or magistrates should regulate those matters only on which the laws are unable to speak with precision owing to the difficulty of any general principle embracing all particulars.

Ancient laws remain in force long after the people have the power to change them.