Aristotle Quotes

Those who have been eminent in philosophy, politics, poetry, and the arts have all had tendencies toward melancholia.

Everything necessarily is or is not, and will be or will not be; but one cannot divide and say that one or the other is necessary.I mean, for example: it is necessary for there to be or not to be a sea-battle tomorrow; but it is not necessary for a sea-battle to take place tomorrow, or for one not to take place--though it is necessary for one to take place or not to take place.

Again, the male is by nature superior, and the female inferior; and the one rules, and the other is ruled; this principle, of necessity, extends to all mankind.

Inferiors revolt in order that they may be equal, and equals that they may be superior. Such is the state of mind which creates revolutions.

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

Praise invariably implies a reference to a higher standard.

Wise people have an inward sense of what is beautiful, and the highest wisdom is to trust this intuition and be guided by it.

[Prudence] is the virtue of that part of the intellect [the calculative] to which it belongs; and . . . our choice of actions will not be right without Prudence any more than without Moral Virtue, since, while Moral Virtue enables us to achieve the end, Prudence makes us adopt the right means to the end.

And yet the true creator is necessity, which is the mother of invention.

The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons.

There are, then, these three means of effecting persuasion. The man who is to be in command of them must, it is clear, be able (1) to reason logically, (2) to understand human character and goodness in their various forms, and (3) to understand the emotions--that is, to name them and describe them, to know their causes and the way in which they are excited.

Neither by nature, then, nor contrary to nature do the virtues arise in us; rather we are adapted by nature to receive them, and are made perfect by habit.

Revolutions are effected in two ways, by force and by fraud.

Special care should be taken of the health of the inhabitants, which will depend chiefly on the healthiness of the locality and of the quarter to which they are exposed, and secondly on the use of pure water; this latter point is by no means a secondary consideration. For the elements which we use the most and oftenest for the support of the body contribute most to health, and among those are water and air. Wherefore, in all wise states, if there is want of pure water, and the supply is not all equally good, the drinking water ought to be separated from that which is used for other purposes.

Now the greatest external good we should assume to be the thing which we offer as a tribute to the gods, and which is most coveted by men of high station, and is the prize awarded for the noblest deeds; and such a thing is honor, for honor is clearly the greatest of external goods.

Nothing in life is more necessary than friendship.

Although it may be difficult in theory to know what is just and equal, the practical difficulty of inducing those to forbear who can, if they like, encroach, is far greater, for the weaker are always asking for equality and justice, but the stronger care for none of these things.

Love well, be loved and do something of value.

Youth should be kept strangers to all that is bad, and especially to things which suggest vice or hate. When the five years have passed away, during the two following years they must look on at the pursuits which they are hereafter to learn. There are two periods of life with reference to which education has to be divided, from seven to the age of puberty, and onwards to the age of one and twenty.

It is a part of probability that many improbable things will happen.

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

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 mere companionship.

Two characteristic marks have above all others been recognized as distinguishing that which has soul in it from that which has not - movement and sensation.

When a draco has eaten much fruit, it seeks the juice of the bitter lettuce; it has been seen to do this.

Speeches are like babies-easy to conceive but hard to deliver.

It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken.

Neither should men study war with a view to the enslavement of those who do not deserve to be enslaved; but first of all they should provide against their own enslavement, and in the second place obtain empire for the good of the governed, and not for the sake of exercising a general despotism, and in the third place they should seek to be masters only over those who deserve to be slaves.

That education should be regulated by law and should be an affair of state is not to be denied, but what should be the character of this public education, and how young persons should be educated, are questions which remain to be considered. As things are, there is disagreement about the subjects. For mankind are by no means agreed about the things to be taught, whether we look to virtue or the best life. Neither is it clear whether education is more concerned with intellectual or with moral virtue.

Patience is so like fortitude that she seems either her sister or her daughter.

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.

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

Men create gods after their own image, not only with regard to their form but with regard to their mode of life.

While most of those who hold that the whole heaven is finite say that the earth lies at the center, the philosophers of Italy, the so-called Pythagoreans, assert the contrary. They say that in the middle there is fire, and that the earth is one of the stars, and by its circular motion round the center produces night and day.

In justice is all virtues found in sum.

Property should be in a general sense common, but as a general rule private... In well-ordered states, although every man has his own property, some things he will place at the disposal of his friends, while of others he shares the use of them.

Men regard it as their right to return evil for evil and, if they cannot, feel they have lost their liberty.

Wit is educated insolence.

Happiness is prosperity combined with virtue.

The probable is what usually happens.

A human being is a naturally political [animal].

The only way to achieve true success is to express yourself completely in service to society.

Every formed disposition of the soul realizes its full nature in relation to and dealing with that class of objects by which it is its nature to be corrupted or improved.

If happiness is activity in accordance with excellence, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest excellence.

Most people would rather give than get affection.

Humility is a flower which does not grow in everyone's garden.

Music has a power of forming the character, and should therefore be introduced into the education of the young.

The senses are gateways to the intelligence. There is nothing in the intelligence which did not first pass through the senses.

A goal gets us motivated,while a good habit keeps us stay motivated.