To the size of the state there is a limit, as there is to plants, animals and implements, for none of these
retain their facility when they are too large. |
Dignity does not come in possessing honors, but in deserving them. |
The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think. |
Democracy arose from men thinking that if they are equal in any respect they are equal in all respects |
The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold. |
Both Oligarch and Tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of arms. |
Man is by nature a political animal. |
The three aims of the tyrant are, one, the humiliation of his subjects; he knows that a mean-spirited man will not conspire against anybody; two, the creation of mistrust among them; for a tyrant is not to be overthrown until men begin to have confidence in one another -- and this is the reason why tyrants are at war with the good; they are under the idea that their power is endangered by them, not only because they will not be ruled despotically, but also because they are too loyal to one another and to other men, and do not inform against one another or against other men -- three, the tyrant desires that all his subjects shall be incapable of action, for no one attempts what is impossible and they will not attempt to overthrow a tyranny if they are powerless. |
A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. |
Men regard it as their right to return evil for evil -- and if they cannot, feel they have lost their liberty. |
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. |
It is the mark of an educated man to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. |
If liberty and equality, as is thought by some are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost. |
It is the greatest inequality to try to make unequal things equal. |
Education is the best provision for old age. |
He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god. |
The trade of the petty usurer is hated with most reason: it makes a profit from currency itself, instead of making it from the process which currency was meant to serve. Their common characteristic is obviously their sordid avarice. |
The basis of a democratic state is liberty. |
It makes no difference whether a good man has defrauded a bad man, or a bad man defrauded a good man, or whether a good or bad man has committed adultery: the law can look only to the amount of damage done. |
A democracy is a government in the hands of men of low birth, no property, and vulgar employments. |
