BEST QUOTES FROM "ARISTOTLE" HIMSELF

A constitution is the arrangement of magistracies in a state.
Aristotle


A friend to all is a friend to none.
Aristotle

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

A sense is what has the power of receiving into itself the sensible forms of things without the matter, in the way in which a piece of wax takes on the impress of a signet-ring without the iron or gold.
Aristotle

A tragedy is a representation of an action that is whole and complete and of a certain magnitude. A whole is what has a beginning and middle and end.
Aristotle

A true friend is one soul in two bodies.
Aristotle

A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side.
Aristotle

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

All men by nature desire knowledge.
Aristotle

All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.
Aristotle

All virtue is summed up in dealing justly.
Aristotle

Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.
Aristotle


At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.
Aristotle

Bad men are full of repentance.
Aristotle

Bashfulness is an ornament to youth, but a reproach to old age.
Aristotle

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

Bring your desires down to your present means. Increase them only when your increased means permit.
Aristotle

But if nothing but soul, or in soul mind, is qualified to count, it is impossible for there to be time unless there is soul, but only that of which time is an attribute, i.e. if change can exist without soul.
Aristotle

Change in all things is sweet.
Aristotle

Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion.
Aristotle
 

Courage is a mean with regard to fear and confidence.
Aristotle

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

Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.
Aristotle

Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.
Aristotle

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.
Aristotle

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

Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.
Aristotle

Education is the best provision for old age.
Aristotle

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

Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and choice, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim.
Aristotle

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.
Aristotle

Excellence, then, is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean, relative to us, this being determined by reason and in the way in which the man of practical wisdom would determine it.
Aristotle

Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.
Aristotle

For as the eyes of bats are to the blaze of day, so is the reason in our soul to the things which are by nature most evident of all.
Aristotle

For one swallow does not make a summer, nor does one day; and so too one day, or a short time, does not make a man blessed and happy.
Aristotle

For though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first.
Aristotle

Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.
Aristotle

Friendship is essentially a partnership.
Aristotle

Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.
Aristotle

Happiness depends upon ourselves.
Aristotle

 

He who can be, and therefore is, another's, and he who participates in reason enough to apprehend, but not to have, is a slave by nature.
Aristotle

He who hath many friends hath none.
Aristotle

He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled.
Aristotle

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.
Aristotle

Hence poetry is something more philosophic and of graver import than history, since its statements are rather of the nature of universals, whereas those of history are singulars.
Aristotle

Homer has taught all other poets the art of telling lies skillfully.

 

It is just that we should be grateful, not only to those with whose views we may agree, but also to those who have expressed more superficial views; for these also contributed something, by developing before us the powers of thought.
Aristotle

It is not once nor twice but times without number that the same ideas make their appearance in the world.
Aristotle

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

It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.
Aristotle

Jealousy is both reasonable and belongs to reasonable men, while envy is base and belongs to the base, for the one makes himself get good things by jealousy, while the other does not allow his neighbour to have them through envy.
Aristotle

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
Aristotle

Man is by nature a political animal.
Aristotle

Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way.
Aristotle

Men are swayed more by fear than by reverence.
Aristotle

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

Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.
Aristotle

Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.
Aristotle

 

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

Perfect friendship is the friendship of men who are good, and alike in excellence; for these wish well alike to each other qua good, and they are good in themselves.
Aristotle

Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference.
Aristotle

Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.
Aristotle

Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth.
Aristotle

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.
Aristotle

 

The generality of men are naturally apt to be swayed by fear rather than reverence, and to refrain from evil rather because of the punishment that it brings than because of its own foulness.
Aristotle

The gods too are fond of a joke.
Aristotle

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

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

The law is reason, free from passion.
Aristotle

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


The moral virtues, then, are produced in us neither by nature nor against nature. Nature, indeed, prepares in us the ground for their reception, but their complete formation is the product of habit.
Aristotle

The most perfect political community is one in which the middle class is in control, and outnumbers both of the other classes.
Aristotle

The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.
Aristotle

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

The secret to humor is surprise.
Aristotle

The soul never thinks without a picture.
Aristotle

 

You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.
Aristotle

Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.
Aristotle

 

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.
  Aristotle

 

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

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

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

“Happiness depends upon ourselves.”
  Aristotle

“Hope is a waking dream.”
  Aristotle

“Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.”
  Aristotle

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

“To perceive is to suffer.”
  Aristotle

“Anybody can become angry — that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way — that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.”
  Aristotle

“The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living differ from the dead.”
  Aristotle

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”
  Aristotle

“Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”
  Aristotle

“No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.”
  Aristotle

“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”
  Aristotle

“A friend to all is a friend to none.”
  Aristotle

“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.”
  Aristotle

“He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.”
  Aristotle

“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”
  Aristotle

“The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend.”
  Aristotle

“I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self.”
  Aristotle

“Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach.”
  Aristotle

“The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think.”
  Aristotle

“Happiness is the settling of the soul into its most appropriate spot.”
  Aristotle

“Whosoever is delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast or a god.”
  Aristotle

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

 

“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.”
  Aristotle

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

“Wit is educated insolence.”
  Aristotle

“Learning is not child's play; we cannot learn without pain.”
  Aristotle

“Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.”
  Aristotle

“It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace.”
  Aristotle

“Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them.”
  Aristotle

“Without friends, no one would want to live, even if he had all other goods.”
  Aristotle

“I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who overcomes his enemies.”
  Aristotle

“All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.”
  Aristotle

“One swallow does not make a summer,
neither does one fine day;
similarly one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy.”
  Aristotle 

 

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

“We make war that we may live in peace.”
  Aristotle

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
  Aristotlet

“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.”
  Aristotle

“All men by nature desire knowledge.”
  Aristotle

“To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man.”
  Aristotle

“A friend is a second self.”
  Aristotle

“Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.”
  Aristotle

“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.”
  Aristotle

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

“The Law is Reason free from Passion.”
  Aristotle

“Happiness is a state of activity.”
  Aristotle

“Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are there own”
  Aristotle

“Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion.”
  Aristotle

“All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right, and not what is established.”
  Aristotle

“Comedy aims at representing men as worse, Tragedy as better than in actual life.”
  Aristotle

“Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.”
  Aristotle

“The energy of the mind is the essence of life.”
  Aristotle 

“He is his own best friend and takes delight in privacy whereas the man of no virtue or ability is his own worst enemy and is afraid of solitude.”
  Aristotle

“We must be neither cowardly nor rash but courageous.”
  Aristotle

“Great men are always of a nature originally melancholy.”
  Aristotle

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

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

“The gods too are fond of a joke.”
  Aristotle

“All Earthquakes and Disasters are warnings; there’s too much corruption in the world”
  Aristotle

“Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god. ”
  Aristotle

“Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.”
  Aristotle

“Philosophy can make people sick.”
  Aristotle

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

“Nature does nothing uselessly.”
  Aristotle

“Learning is an ornament in prosperity, a refuge in adversity, and a provision in old age.”
  Aristotle

“The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.”
  Aristotle

“He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled”
  Aristotle

“...happiness does not consist in amusement. In fact, it would be strange if our end were amusement, and if we were to labor and suffer hardships all our life long merely to amuse ourselves.... The happy life is regarded as a life in conformity with virtue. It is a life which involves effort and is not spent in amusement....”
  Aristotle

“The secret to humor is surprise.”
  Aristotle

“A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side.”
  Aristotle

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

“Anger Is A Gift”
  Aristotle

“The soul never thinks without a mental picture.”
  Aristotle

“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.”
  Aristotle

“PLOT is CHARACTER revealed by ACTION.”
  Aristotle

“Through discipline comes freedom.”
  Aristotle

“If things do not turn out as we wish, we should wish for them as they turn out.”
  Aristotle

 

“Happiness belongs to the self sufficient.”
  Aristotle

“These virtues are formed in man by his doing the actions ... The good of man is a working of the soul in the way of excellence in a complete life.”
  Aristotle 

 

“All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.”
  Aristotle

“To lead an orchestra, you must turn your back on the crowd”
  Aristotle

“He who hath many friends hath none.”
  Aristotle

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

“For though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first.”
  Aristotle

“Democracy arose from men's thinking that if they are equal in any respect, they are equal absolutely.”
  Aristotle

“We give up leisure in order that we may have leisure, just as we go to war in order that we may have peace.”
  Aristotle

“With respect to the requirement of art, the probable impossible is always preferable to the improbable possible.”
  Aristotle 

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

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

“Wise men speak when they have something to say, fools speak because they have to say something”
  Aristotle

“There is an ideal of excellence for any particular craft or occupation; similarly there must be an excellent that we can achieve as human beings. That is, we can live our lives as a whole in such a way that they can be judged not just as excellent in this respect or in that occupation, but as excellent, period. Only when we develop our truly human capacities sufficiently to achieve this human excellent will we have lives blessed with happiness.”
  Aristotle

“He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader.”
  Aristotle

“The least deviation from truth will be multiplied later. ”
  Aristotle

“Young people are in a condition like permanent intoxication, because life is sweet and they are growing.”
  Aristotle

“It's the fastest who gets paid, and it's the fastest who gets laid.”
  Aristotle

“It is not once nor twice but times without number that the same ideas make their appearance in the world.”
  Aristotle

“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.”
  Aristotle