Our purpose in founding the city was not to make any one class in it surpassingly happy, but to make the city as a whole as happyas possible.

I soon realized that poets do not compose their poems with knowledge, but by some inborn talent and by inspiration, like seers and prophets who also say many fine things without any understanding of what they say.

The body cannot be cured without regard for the soul.

If I had engaged in politics, O men of Athens, I should have perished long ago, and done no good either to you or to myself.

The greater the power that deigns to serve you, the more honor it demands of you.

The beginning is the most important part, especially when dealing with anything young and tender.

Man's life is like a drop of dew on a leaf.