To the rulers of the state then, if to any, it belongs of right to use falsehood, to deceive either enemies or their own citizens, for the good of the state: and no one else may meddle with this privilege.

I know nothing more worthy of a man's ambition than that his son be the best of men.

May not the wolf, as the proverb says, claim a hearing?

Poets utter great and wise things which they do not themselves understand.

It is better to be wise, and not to seem so, than to seem wise, and not be so; yet men, for the most part, desire the contrary.

Anything worth knowing is already known and must be remembered and reclaimed by the soul.

Nothing can be more absurd than the practice that prevails in our country of men and women not following the same pursuits with all their strengths and with one mind, for thus, the state instead of being whole is reduced to half.