Aristotle Quotes

Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms.

It is in justice that the ordering of society is centered.

For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.

Friendship is essentially a partnership.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.

To love someone is to identify with them.

A likely impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility.

Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.

It is the mark of an educated mind to rest satisfied with the degree of precision which the nature of the subject admits and not to seek exactness where only

an approximation is possible.

Law is order, and good law is good order.

Man perfected by society is the best of all animals he is the most terrible of all when he lives without law, and without justice.

No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness.

One swallow does not make a summer.

The best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.

There was never a genius without a tincture of madness.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.

Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is slow-ripening fruit.

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.

Man is by nature a political animal.

We are what we repeatedly do.

Evil draws men together.

Wit is educated insolence.

Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses or avoids

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who overcomes his enemies.

Philosophy is the science which considers truth.

We make war that we may live in peace.

Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.

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

What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing.

Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach.

He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

All men by nature desire knowledge.

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire

Change in all things is sweet.

All proofs rest on premises.

Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered.

A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.

It is possible to fail in many ways...while to succeed is possible only in one way.

The best political community is formed by citizens of the middle class.

Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.

What lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.
Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work

Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.

Anyone can become angry. That is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way - that is not easy.

Dignity consists not in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them.

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.

Hope is a waking dream.

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them.

The high minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think.

All virtue is summed up in dealing justly.

Liars when they speak the truth are not believed.

A whole is that which has beginning, middle and end.

Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.

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

It is easy to fly into a passion--anybody can do that--but to be angry with the right person and at the right time and with the right object and in the right way--that is not easy, and it is not everyone who can do it.

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.

The gods too are fond of a joke.

Well begun is half done.

Happiness depends upon ourselves.

Happiness is a state of activity.

Nature does nothing uselessly.

To Thales the primary question was not what do we know, but how do we know it.

To perceive is to suffer.

Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.

What is a friend A single soul dwelling in two bodies.

All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.

The basis of a democratic state is liberty.

Consider pleasures as they depart, not as they come.

It is simplicity that makes the uneducated more effective than the educated when addressing popular audiences.

Education and morals will be found almost the whole that goes to make a good man.

It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.

Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved.

The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead.

...happiness is the highest good, being a realization and perfect practice of virtue, which some can attain, while others have little or none of it...

A flatterer is a friend who is your inferior, or pretends to be so.

A friend is a second self.

A state is not a mere society, having a common place, established for the prevention of mutual crime and for the sake of exchange...Political society exists for the sake of noble actions, and not of mere companionship.

Again, men in general desire the good, and not merely what their fathers had.

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire.

Different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life and forms of government.

Education is the best provision for old age.

Education is the best provision for the journey to old age.

Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.

Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.

I count him braver who conquers his desires than him who conquers his enemies for the hardest victort is the victory over self.

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost.

In poverty and other misfortunes of life men think friends to be their only refuge. The young they keep out of mischief, to the old they are a comfort and aid in their weakness, and those in the prime of life they incite to noble deeds.

In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge. The young they keep out of mischief to the old they are a comfort and aid in their weakness, and those in the prime of life they incite to noble deeds.

In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge. The young they keep out of mischief; to the old they are a comfort and aid in their weakness, and those in the prime of life they incite to noble deeds.

In the arena of human life the honours and rewards fall to those who show their good qualities.

It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen.

It is the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it.

It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.

Law is mind without reason.

Let us be well persuaded that everyone of us possesses happiness in proportion to his virtue and wisdom, and according as he acts in obedience to their suggestion.

Man differs from other animals particularly in this, that he is imitative, and acquires his rudiments of knowledge in this way; besides, the delight in imitation is universal.

Man perfected by society is the best of all animals; he is the most terrible of all when he lives without law, and without justice.

Melancholy men are of all others the most witty.

Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way...you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.

Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.

No man of high and generous spirit is ever willing to indulge in flattery; the good may feel affection for others, but will not flatter them.

Nor was civil society founded merely to preserve the lives of its members; but that they might live well: for otherwise a state might be composed of slaves, or the animal creation... nor is it an alliance mutually to defend each other from injuries, or for a commercial intercourse. But whosoever endeavors to establish wholesome laws in a state, attends to the virtues and vices of each individual who composes it; from whence it is evident, that the first care of him who would found a city, truly deserving that name, and not nominally so, must be to have his citizens virtuous.

Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.

Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.

The gods too are fond of a joke

The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.

The least deviation from truth will be multiplied later.

The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.

The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law.

The ridiculous is produced by any defect that is unattended by pain, or fatal consequences; thus, an ugly and deformed countenance does not fail to cause laughter, if it is not occasioned by pain.

The soul never thinks without a picture.

The true end of tragedy is to purify the passions.

The wicked have no stability, for they do not remain in consistency with themselves; they continue friends only for a short time, rejoicing in each other?s wickedness.

They should rule who are able to rule best.

This communicating of a man's self to his friend works two contrary effects for it redoubleth joys, and cutteth griefs in half.

Those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well.

Those who have the command of the arms in a country are masters of the state, and have it in their power to make what revolutions they please. Thus, there is no end to observations on the difference between the measures likely to be pursued by a minister backed by a standing army, and those of a court awed by the fear of an armed people.

Time crumbles things everything grows old under the power of Time and is forgotten through the lapse of Time.

To be conscious that we are perceiving or thinking is to be conscious of our own existence.

To enjoy the things we ought and to hate the things we ought has the greatest bearing on excellence of character.

To give a satisfactory decision as to the truth it is necessary to be rather an arbitrator than a party to the dispute.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act by a habit.

We must as second best...take the least of the evils.

What the statesman is most anxious to produce is a certain moral character in his fellow citizens, namely a disposition to virtue and the performance of virtuous actions.

Whatsoever that be within us that feels, thinks, desires, and animates, is something celestial, divine, and, consequently, imperishable.

With regard to excellence, it is not enough to know, but we must try to have and use it.

Young people are in a condition like permanent intoxication, because youth is sweet and they are growing.