“Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul.”

“The philosopher whose dealings are with divine order himself acquires the characteristics of order and divinity.”

“Musical innovation is full of danger to the State, for when modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the State always change with them.”

“....harmony that would fittingly imitate the utterances and accents of a brave man who is engaged in warfare or in any enforced business, and who, when he has failed [] confronts fortune with stead...”

“Money-makers are tiresome company, as they have no standard but cash value.”

“The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.”

“While we are actually subjected to them, the 'moods' and 'spirits' of nature point no morals. Overwhelming gaiety, insupportable grandeur, sombre desolation are flung at you. Make what you can of t...”

“...[N]ature generally in the distribution of her capacities has adapted the means to the end... [so nature's] true destination must be to produce a will, not merely good as a means to something els...”

“Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people we personally dislike.”

“I have little use for religion as it is practiced, or for astrology, or for belief in witchcraft or omens of good or ill-luck. I think they all stem from some insufficiency in mens minds, perhaps f...”

“It is only the innocent mind which knows what love is, and the innocent mind can live in the world which is not innocent.”

“So if you can look at all things without allowing pleasure to creep in - at a face, a bird, the colour of a sari, the beauty of a sheet of water shimmering in the sun, or anything that gives deligh...”