Mariner, do not ask whose tomb this may be, but go with good fortune: I wish you a kinder sea.

The form of law which I propose would be as follows: In a state which is desirous of being saved from the greatest of all plagues-not faction, but rather distraction-there should exist among the citizens neither extreme poverty nor, again, excessive wealth, for both are productive of great evil . . . Now the legislator should determine what is to be the limit of poverty or of wealth.

There are three arts which are concerned with all things: one which uses, another which makes, and a third which imitates them.

Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence.

Whence comes war and fighting, and factions? Whence but from the body and the lust of the body? Wars are occasioned by the love of money, and money has to be acquired for the same and service of the body.

Not only is the old man twice a child, but also the man who is drunk.

Only a philosopher's mind grows wings, since its memory always keeps it as close as possible to those realities by being close to which the gods are divine.