“The more able a man is, if he make ill use of his abilities, the more dangerous will he be to the commonwealth.”

What we wish, that we readily believe.

Nothing is so easy as to deceive one’s self; for what we wish, that we readily believe; but such expectations are often inconsistent with the real state of things.

The man who is in the highest state of prosperity, and who thinks his fortune is most secure, knows not if it will remain unchanged till the evening.

Great and unexpected successes are often the cause of foolish rushing into acts of extravagance.

Nothing is easier than self-deceit.

We believe whatever we want to believe.

The man who flies shall fight again.

Every dictator is an enemy of freedom, an opponent of law.

The man who has received a benefit ought always to remember it, but he who has granted it ought to forget the fact at once.

The end of wisdom is consultation and deliberation.

We need money, for sure, Athenians, and without money nothing can be done that ought to be done.

It is not possible to found a lasting power upon injustice, perjury, and treachery.

The sower of the seed is assuredly the author of the whole harvest of mischief.

I decline to buy repentance at the cost of ten thousand drachmas.

What we have in us of the image of God is the love of truth and justice.

A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true.

People only change when it becomes too dangerous to stay the way they are.

Living safely is dangerous.

Learning carries within itself certain dangers because out of necessity one has to learn from one’s enemies.

Dangerous acts can be done safely in a community which thinks and feels rightly, which would be the way to hell if they were executed by those who think and feel wrongly.

A sound banker, alas, is not one who foresees danger and avoids it, but one who, when he is ruined, is ruined in a conventional way along with his fellows, so that no one can really blame him.

How true it is that without the guidance of the Holy Spirit intellect not only is undependable but also extremely dangerous, because it often confuses the issue of right and wrong.

There is such a thing as too much beauty in a woman and it is often a burden as crippling as homeliness and far more dangerous. It takes much luck and integrity to survive the gift of perfect beauty, and its impermanence is its most cunning betrayal.

Economics is a very dangerous science.