Don't ask a poet to explain himself. He cannot.

Prefer diligence before idleness, unless you esteem rust above brightness.

They would be subject to no one, neither to lawful ruler nor to the reign of law, but would be altogether and absolutely free. That is the way they got their tyrants, for either servitude or freedom, when it goes to extremes, is an utter bane, while either in due measure is altogether a boon.

A man is not learned until he can read, write and swim.

The gods' service is tolerable, man's intolerable.

One trait in the philosopher's character we can assume is his love of the knowledge that reveals eternal reality, the realm unaffected by change and decay. He is in love with the whole of that reality, and will not willingly be deprived even of the most insignificant fragment of it - just like the lovers and men of ambition we described earlier on.

The beginning is the most important part...for that is the time character is being formed.