Everybody loves a thing more if it has cost him trouble: for instance those who have made money love money more than those who have inherited it.

A man becomes a friend whenever being loved he loves in return.

In the many forms of government which have sprung up there has always been an acknowledgement of justice and proportionate equality, although mankind fail in attaining them, as indeed I have already explained. Democracy, for example, arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.

The real difference between democracy and oligarchy is poverty and wealth. Wherever men rule by reason of their wealth, whether they be few or many, that is an oligarchy, and where the poor rule, that is a democracy.

Happiness involves engagement in activities that promote one's highest potentials.

Our problem is not that we aim too high and miss, but that we aim too low and hit.

No one chooses what does not rest with himself, but only what he thinks can be attained by his own act.