The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men.

Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet.

Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity - I mean the true simplicity of a rightly and nobly ordered mind and character, not that other simplicity which is only a euphemism for folly.

Writing is the geometry of the soul.

Any city, however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich; these are at war with one another.

Better to complete a small task well, than to do much imperfectly.

That's what education should be," I said, "the art of orientation. Educators should devise the simplest and most effective methods of turning minds around. It shouldn't be the art of implanting sight in the organ, but should proceed on the understanding that the organ already has the capacity, but is improperly aligned and isn't facing the right way.