Society and the World

Men should strive to think much and know little.

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

Do not trust all men, but trust men of worth; the former course is silly, the latter a mark of prudence.

It is better to destroy one's own errors than those of others.

By desiring little, a poor man makes himself rich.

By desiring little, a poor man makes himself rich.

Our sins are more easily remembered than our good deeds.

Everything existing in the universe is the fruit of chance and necessity.

It is greed to do all the talking but not to want to listen at all.

Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.

Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way.

Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered.

Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered.

Bad men are full of repentance.

I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.

The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.

All virtue is summed up in dealing justly.

All virtue is summed up in dealing justly.

A constitution is the arrangement of magistracies in a state.

A constitution is the arrangement of magistracies in a state.

Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.

Man is by nature a political animal.

Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms.

The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons.