“ Those who excel in virtue have the best right of all to rebel, but then they are of all men the least inclined to do so. ”

“ Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. ”

“ Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal. ”

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

“ In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous. ”

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

“ The secret to humor is surprise. ”

“ 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. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side. ”

“ Excellence, then, is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean, relative to us, this being determined by reason and in the way in which the man of practical wisdom would determine it. ”

“ Hope is a waking dream. ”