Cleisthenes

"The reorganization of Athens was the reorganization of human dignity."

"I served the state by diminishing my own power; this is the highest service."

"The many voices create a music that no single instrument can match."

"Ostracism teaches that even the greatest among us is temporary."

"The laws endure because they serve all, not one."

"To give voice to the voiceless is to create the possibility of truth."

"Athens was remade not by a hero, but by a system that needed no hero."

"The state that trusts its people will be trusted by its people."

"In the space between tyranny and chaos, justice finds its home."

"I took the title away so that Athens could keep the power."

"The ostracism of one is the liberation of all from fear of that one."

"Democracy is the art of making enemies into citizens."

"What I gave Athens was not permanence but the capacity to change."

"A people who govern themselves will govern justly, or learn to."

"The Constitution is the people's answer to the question: 'Who rules?'"

"I did not conquer Athens; I liberated it from conquest itself."

"The tribes reorganized are the promise that birth does not determine destiny."

"When all may vote, the vote becomes sacred."

"The false choice is between one ruler and chaos; I showed the third way."

"To be ostracized is to be remembered as the one Athens feared."

"I learned that power given away returns a hundredfold in authority."

"The state that fears truth is dying; the state that embraces it is born."

"Each citizen is a small legislator; together they are the greatest."

"The reorganization of society requires the courage to destroy what was beloved."

"I offered not perfection but possibility; the rest was up to Athens."

"The ballot casts out fear more effectively than any army."

"When the people hold power, even their errors become lessons for the future."

"The tribes of Athens, reorganized, became the bones of democracy."

"To strip a man of power and make him equal is the greatest honor a state can pay."

"I saw that Athens would be greatest not under one man but under law."