Some men turn every quality or art into a means of making money; this they conceive to be the end, and to the promotion of the end all things must contribute.

No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.

For those who possess and can wield arms are in a position to decide whether the constitution is to continue or not

That which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it. Every one thinks chiefly of his own, hardly at all of the common interest; and only when he is himself concerned as an individual. For besides other considerations, everybody is more inclined to neglect the duty which he expects another to fulfill.

When we look at the matter from another point of view, great caution would seem to be required. For the habit of lightly changing the laws is an evil, and, when the advantage is small, some errors both of lawgivers and rulers had better be left; the citizen will not gain so much by making the change as he will lose by the habit of disobedience.

A tragedy is that moment where the hero comes face to face with his true identity.

A sense is what has the power of receiving into itself the sensible forms of things without the matter, in the way in which a piece of wax takes on the impress of a signet-ring without the iron or gold.