"Men say that we ought not to enquire into the supreme God and the nature of the universe, nor busy ourselves in searching out the causes of things, and that such enquiries are impious; whereas the very opposite is the truth."

"He who is not a good servant will not be a good master."

"Beauty is the splendor of truth."

"The desires of the worthless many are controlled by the desires and knowledge of the decent few."

"The point which I should first wish to understand is whether the pious or holy is beloved by the gods because it is holy, or holy because it is beloved of the gods."

"Prefer diligence before idleness, unless you esteem rust above brightness."

"Isn't it a bad thing to be deceived about the truth, and a good thing to know what the truth is?"

"The soul takes nothing with her to the next world but her education and her culture. At the beginning of the journey to the next world, one's education and culture can either provide the greatest assistance, or else act as the greatest burden, to the person who has just died."

"Above all things truth beareth away the victory."

"Man is a prisoner who has no right to open the door of his prison and run away... A man should wait, and not take his own life until God summons him."

"The soul of him who has education is whole and perfect and escapes the worst disease, but, if a man's education be neglected, he walks lamely through life and returns good for nothing to the world below."

"Never discourage anyone. who continually makes progress, no matter how slow."

"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."

"If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools."

"You know that the beginning is the most important part of any work, especially in the case of a young and tender thing; for that is the time at which the character is being formed and the desired impression is more readily taken. Shall we just carelessly allow children to hear any casual tales which may be devised by casual persons, and to receive into their minds ideas for the most part the very opposite of those which we should wish them to have when they are grown up?"

"The helpful is beautiful; only the harmful is ugly."

"I thought to myself: I am wiser than this man; neither of us probably knows anything that is really good, but he thinks he has knowledge, when he has not, while I, having no knowledge, do not think I have.,."

"Isn't it a bad thing to be deceived about the truth, and a good thing to know what the truth is?"

"The rhetorician need not know the truth about things; he has only to discover some way of persuading the ignorant that he has more knowledge than those who know."

"Harmony is a symphony, and symphony is an agreement; but an agreement of disagreements while they disagree there cannot be; you cannot harmonize that which disagrees."