"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."

"Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils — no, nor the human race, as I believe — and then only will this our State have a possibility of life and behold the light of day."

"As the builders say, the larger stones do not lie well without the lesser."

"He who refuses to rule is liable to be ruled by one who is worse than himself."

"There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help and what they cannot."

"Friends have all things in common."

"Democracy passes into despotism."

"Poets utter great and wise things which they do not themselves understand."

"The philosopher is in love with truth, that is, not with the changing world of sensation, which is the object of opinion, but with the unchanging reality which is the object of knowledge."

"Great crimes and pure evil come only from vigorous natures perverted by upbringing; a weak nature never does anything great, good or evil."

"The truth is, O men of Athens, that God only is wise; and by his answer he intends to show that the wisdom of men is worth little or nothing."

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

"The thing to be done does not choose, I imagine, to tarry the leisure of the doer, but the doer must be at the beck of the thing to be done, and not treat it as a secondary affair."

"The man who makes everything that leads to happiness, depends upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation, the man of manly character and of wisdom."

"Laws are partly formed for the sake of good men, in order to instruct them how they may live on friendly terms with one another, and partly for the sake of those who refuse to be instructed, whose spirit cannot be subdued, or softened, or hindered from plunging into evil."

"The body is the tomb of the soul."

"I am not given to finding fault, for there are innumerable fools."

"Certainly we shall have to look to ourselves, and try to find someone who will help in some way or other to improve us."

"A house that has a library in it has a soul."

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