Not every action or emotion however admits of the observance of a due mean. Indeed the very names of some directly imply evil, for instance malice, shamelessness, envy, and, of actions, adultery, theft, murder. All these and similar actions and feelings are blamed as being bad in themselves; it is not the excess or deficiency of them that we blame. It is impossible therefore ever to go right in regard to them - one must always be wrong.

The blood of a goat will shatter a diamond.

For legislators make the citizens good by forming habits in them, and this is the wish of every legislator, and those who do not effect it miss their mark, and it is in this that a good constitution differs from a bad one.

So the good has been well explained as that at which all things aim.

For this reason poetry is something more philosophical and more worthy of serious attention than history.

Those who excel in virtue have the best right of all to rebel, but then they are of all men the least inclined to do so.

Happiness does not consist in pastimes and amusements but in virtuous activities.