I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul.

Do you suppose that I should have lived as long as I have if I had moved in the sphere of public life, and conducting myself in that sphere like an honorable man, had always upheld the cause of right, and conscientiously set this end above all other things? Not by a very long way, gentlemen; neither would any other man.

It is not living that matters, but living rightly.

Prefer knowledge to wealth, for the one is transitory, the other perpetual.

The noblest worship is to make yourself as good and as just as you can.

Flattery is like a painted armor; only for show.

The more I know, the more I know that I don't know.