And the first step, as you know, is always what matters most, particularly when we are dealing with those who are young and tender. That is the time when they are taking shape and when any impression we choose to make leaves a permanent mark.

Madness is a divine release of the soul from the yoke of custom and convention.

Access to power must be confined to those who are not in love with it.

I shall assume that your silence gives consent.

He, O men, is the wisest, who, like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing.

Neither do the ignorant love wisdom or desire to become wise; for this is the grievous thing about ignorance, that those who are neither good nor beautiful think they are good enough, and do not desire that which they do not think they are lacking.

Too much attention to health is a hindrance to learning, to invention, and to studies of any kind, for we are always feeling suspicious shootings and swimmings in our heads, and we are prone to blame studies from them.