I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident they came by work.
Cunning... is but the low mimic of wisdom.
Only the dead have seen the end of war.
Then not only an old man, but also a drunkard, becomes a second time a child.
One man cannot practice many arts with success.
Science is nothing but perception.
He who steals a little steals with the same wish as he who steals much, but with less power.
The measure of a man is what he does with power.
There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands.
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.
Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence.
For the introduction of a new kind of music must be shunned as imperiling the whole state since styles of music are never disturbed without affecting the most important political institutions.
Philosophy is the highest music.
States are as the men, they grow out of human characters.
Whatever deceives men seems to produce a magical enchantment.
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.
When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody may believe them.
There are three classes of men lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain.
A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is found among a thousand, but an accomplished one might not be found even among a hundred thousand men.
Wise men speak because they have something to say Fools because they have to say something.