For even they who compose treatises of medicine or natural philosophy in verse are denominated Poets: yet Homer and Empedocles have nothing in common except their metre; the former, therefore, justly merits the name of the Poet; while the other should rather be called a Physiologist than a Poet.

To the size of the state there is a limit, as there is to plants, animals and implements, for none of these retain their facility when they are too large.

A bad man can do a million times more harm than a beast.

Patience s bitter, but it's fruit is sweet.

Youth loves honor and victory more than money.

I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.

So we must lay it down that the association which is a state exists not for the purpose of living together but for the sake of noble actions. Those who contribute most to this kind of association are for that very reason entitled to a larger share in the state than those who, though they may be equal or even superior in free birth and in family, are inferior in the virtue that belongs to a citizen. Similarly they are entitled to a larger share than those who are superior in riches but inferior in virtue.