All thought begins with the recognition that something is out of place.

Do not use compulsion, but let early education be rather a sort of amusement.

Complacent ignorance is the most lethal sickness of the soul

The people always have some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness. ... This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.

Excess of liberty, whether it lies in state or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery.

Life must be lived as play, playing certain games, making sacrifices, singing and dancing, and then a man will be able to propitiate the gods.

For all good and evil, whether in the body or in human nature, originates ... in the soul, and overflows from thence, as from the head into the eyes.