Virtue and decency are so nearly related that it is difficult to separate them from each other but in our imagination.

True nobility is exempt from fear.

This is the truth: as from a fire aflame thousands of sparks come forth, even so from the Creator an infinity of beings have life and to him return again.

There is nothing god cannot do.

In this statement, my Scipio, I build on your own admirable definition, that there can be no community, properly so called, unless it be regulated by a combination of rights. And by this definition it appears that a multitude of men may be just as tyrannical as a single despot and indeed this is the most odious of all tyrannies, since no monster can be more barbarous than the mob, which assumes the name and mask of the people.

Never was a government that was not composed of liars, malefactors and thieves.

You might as well take the sun out of the sky as friendship from life: for the immortal gods have given us nothing better or more delightful.