We ought to regard the interests of the state as of far greater moment than all else, in order that they may be administered well; and we ought not to engage in eager rivalry in despite of equity, nor arrogate to ourselves any power contrary to the common welfare. For a state well administered is our greatest safeguard. In this all is summed up: When the state is in a healthy condition all things prosper; when it is corrupt, all things go to ruin.

The friendship of one wise man is better than the friendship of a host of fools.

The enmity of one's kindred is far more bitter than the enmity of strangers.

My enemy is not the man who wrongs me, but the man who means to wrong me.

False men and shams talk big and do nothing.

You can tell the man who rings true from the man who rings false, not by his deeds alone, but also by his desires.

Making money is not without its value, but nothing is baser than to make it by wrong-doing.

Fame and wealth without wisdom are unsafe possessions.

There are many who know many things, yet are lacking in wisdom.

Good means not [merely] not to do wrong, but rather not to desire to do wrong.

Those who have a well-ordered character lead also a well-ordered life.

It is better to correct your own faults than those of another.

Neither art nor wisdom may be attained without learning.

The hopes of the right-minded may be realized, those of fools are impossible.

Strength of body is nobility in beasts of burden, strength of character is nobility in men.

No one deserves to live who has not at least one good-man-and-true for a friend.

Seek after the good, and with much toil shall ye find it; the evil turns up of itself without your seeking it.

All who delight in the pleasures of the belly, exceeding all measure in eating and drinking and love, find that the pleasures are brief and last but a short while-only so long as they are eating and drinking-but the pains that come after are many and endure. The longing for the same things keeps ever returning, and whenever the objects of one's desire are realized forthwith the pleasure vanishes, and one has no further use for them. The pleasure is brief, and once more the need for the same things returns.

Men in their prayers beg the gods for health, not knowing that this is a thing they have in their own power. Through their incontinence undermining it, they themselves become, because of their passions, the betrayers of their own health.

Throw moderation to the winds, and the greatest pleasures bring the greatest pains.

The pleasures that give most joy are the ones that most rarely come.

A life without a holiday is like a long journey without an inn to rest at.

A sensible man takes pleasure in what he has instead of pining for what he has not.

Of all things the worst to teach the young is dalliance, for it is this that is the parent of those pleasures from which wickedness springs.

Now as of old the gods give men all good things, excepting only those that are baneful and injurious and useless. These, now as of old, are not gifts of the gods: men stumble into them themselves because of their own blindness and folly.

The right-minded man, ever inclined to righteous and lawful deeds, is joyous day and night, and strong, and free from care. But if a man take no heed of the right, and leave undone the things he ought to do, then will the recollection of no one of all his transgressions bring him any joy, but only anxiety and self-reproaching.

Fortune is lavish with her favors, but not to be depended on. Nature on the other hand is self-sufficing, and therefore with her feebler but trustworthy [resources] she wins the greater [meed] of hope.

An evil and foolish and intemperate and irreligious life should not be called a bad life, but rather, dying long drawn out.

In the weightiest matters we must go to school to the animals, and learn spinning and weaving from the spider, building from the swallow, singing from the birds,-from the swan and the nightingale, imitating their art.

Men have made an idol of luck as an excuse for their own thoughtlessness. Luck seldom measures swords with wisdom. Most things in life quick wit and sharp vision can set right.

For a man petticoat government is the limit of insolence.

One should emulate works and deeds of virtue, not arguments about it.

Fools learn wisdom through misfortune.

Many who have not learned wisdom live wisely, and many who do the basest deeds can make most learned speeches.

No power and no treasure can outweigh the extension of our knowledge.

Disease of the home and of the life comes about in the same way as that of the body.

The man who is fortunate in his choice of son-in-law gains a son; the man unfortunate in his choice loses his daughter also.

To a wise man, the whole earth is open; for the native land of a good soul is the whole earth.

Education is an ornament for the prosperous, a refuge for the unfortunate.

In a shared fish, there are no bones.

Men have fashioned an image of Chance as an excuse for their own stupidity. For Chance rarely conflicts with intelligence, and most things in life can be set in order by an intelligent sharpsightedness.

I would rather discover one cause than gain the kingdom of Persia.

Good breeding in cattle depends on physical health, but in men on a well-formed character.

Man is a universe in little [Microcosm].

Coition is a slight attack of apoplexy. For man gushes forth from man, and is separated by being torn apart with a kind of blow.

We know nothing accurately in reality, but [only] as it changes according to the bodily condition, and the constitution of those things that flow upon [the body] and impinge upon it.

By convention sweet is sweet, bitter is bitter, hot is hot, cold is cold, color is color; but in truth there are only atoms and the void.

Sweet exists by convention, bitter by convention, colour by convention; atoms and Void [alone] exist in reality.

Strength and beauty are the blessings of youth; temperance, however, is the flower of old age.

And yet it will be obvious that it is difficult to really know of what sort each thing is.