The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

Natura il fece, e poi roppe la stampa.
Nature made him, and then broke the mould.
‘Orlando Furioso’ (1532) canto 10, st. 84
1.85 Aristophanes c.444-c.380 B.C.
How about ‘Cloudcuckooland’?
Naming the capital city of the Birds in ‘The Birds’ (414 B.C.) l. 819
To make the worse appear the better reason.
‘The Clouds’ (423 B.C.) l. 114 and elsewhere
But he was contented there, is contented here.
Referring to Sophocles in ‘The Frogs’ (405 B.C.) l. 82 (there on earth; here in Hades)
Brekekekex koax koax.
Cry of the Frogs in ‘The Frogs’ (405 B.C.) l. 209 and elsewhere
1.86 Aristotle 384-322 B.C.
So the good has been well explained as that at which all things aim.
‘Nicomachean Ethics’ bk. 1, opening sentence
We make war that we may live in peace.
‘Nicomachean Ethics’ bk. 10, ch. 7.
Man is by nature a political animal.
‘Politics’ bk. 1, sect. 2, 1253a
Nature does nothing uselessly.
‘Politics’ bk. 1, sect. 2
He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself,
must be either a beast or a god.
‘Politics’ bk. 1, sect. 2
Where some people are very wealthy and others have nothing, the result will be either extreme
democracy or absolute oligarchy, or despotism will come from either of those excesses.
‘Politics’ bk. 1, sect. 4, 1296a
Tragedy is thus a representation of an action that is worth serious attention, complete in itself
and of some amplitude...by means of pity and fear bringing about the purgation of such emotions.
‘Poetics’ ch. 6, 1449b
For this reason poetry is something more philosophical and more worthy of serious attention
than history.
‘Poetics’ ch. 9, 1451b
Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilites.
‘Poetics’ ch. 24, 1460a
Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas.
Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth.