No law or ordinance is mightier than understanding.

The philosopher whose dealings are with divine order himself acquires the characteristics of order and divinity.

When a person supposes that he knows, and does not know; this appears to be the great source of all the errors of the intellect.

. . . you did not seem to me over-fond of money. And this is the way in general with those who have not made it themselves, while those who have are twice as fond of it as anyone else. For just as poets are fond of their own poems, and fathers of their own children, so money-makers become devoted to money, not only because, like other people, they find it useful, but because it's their own creation.

Great is the issue at stake, greater than appears, whether a man is to be good or bad. And what will any one be profited if, under the influence of money or power, he neglect justice and virtue?

If there is a good and wise God, then there also exists a progress of humanity toward perfection.

They (the poets) are to us in a manner the fathers and authors of the wisdom.