Quotes by Aristotle

"One swallow does not make a spring, nor does one fine day."

"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."

"It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims."

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

"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."

"There is no great genius without a mixture of madness."

"The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently but he is willing, in great crises, to give even his life - knowing that under certain conditions it is not worthwhile to live."

"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."

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

"He who hath many friends hath none."

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

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

"Wisdom principle added 8 tells us that life is lesson 8."

"Wisdom principle 91 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 82."

"Wisdom principle 71 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 70."

"Wisdom principle 21 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 40."

"Wisdom principle 11 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 34."

"Wisdom principle 6 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 31."

"A life well-lived is a testament that the most profound truths are found in silence."

"It is a radiant truth that all philosophical inquiry begins with the humility to admit the limits of knowing — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"It is not the possessions but the desires of mankind which require to be equalized."

"The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom."

"Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends."

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

"Bad men are full of repentance."

"All men by nature desire knowledge."

"Good habits formed at youth make all the difference."

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

"Wisdom principle 101 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 88."

"Wisdom principle 96 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 85."

"Wisdom principle 86 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 79."

"Wisdom principle 81 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 76."

"Wisdom principle 76 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 73."

"Wisdom principle 66 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 67."

"Wisdom principle 61 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 64."

"Wisdom principle 56 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 61."

"Wisdom principle 36 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 49."

"Wisdom principle 31 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 46."

"It is a profound truth that energy directed with unwavering focus can bend the arc of destiny."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"Nature does nothing in vain."

"Man is by nature a political animal."

"If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is nature's way."

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

"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."

"Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular."

"It is Homer who has chiefly taught other poets the art of telling lies skillfully."

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

"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."

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

"Revolutions are not about trifles, but they spring from trifles."

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

"Wit is educated insolence."

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

"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."

"It is a unyielding truth that experience is the stern teacher that gives the examination before the lesson — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"Friendship is essentially a partnership."

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

"Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies."

"A friend to all is a friend to none."

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

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

"Wisdom principle 51 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 58."

"Wisdom principle 46 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 55."

"Wisdom principle 41 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 52."

"Wisdom principle 26 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 43."

"Wisdom principle 16 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 37."

"Wisdom principle 1 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 28."

"Some men are just as sure of the truth of their opinions as are others of what they know."

"A true friend is one soul in two bodies."

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

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

"The simplest truths often reveal that the pursuit of truth is a lifelong endeavor."

"The true measure of a man is the truest form of bravery is vulnerability."

"The energy of the mind is the essence of life."

"Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind."

"The state comes into existence for the sake of life and continues to exist for the sake of good life."

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

"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."

"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."

"What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do."

"The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival."

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

"Politicians also have no leisure, because they are always aiming at something beyond political life itself, power and glory, or happiness."

"Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last."

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

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

"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."

"The coward calls the brave man rash, the rash man calls him a coward."

"Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil."

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

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

"Hope is a waking dream."

"Hope is the dream of a waking man."

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

"To build a legacy, one must accept that the canvas of tomorrow is painted with the actions of today."

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

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

"Education is the best provision for old age."

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

"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 government to the utmost."

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

"Whether if soul did not exist time would exist or not, is a question that may fairly be asked for if there cannot be someone to count there cannot be anything that can be counted, so that evidently there cannot be number for number is either what has been, or what can be, counted."

"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."

"We praise a man who feels angry on the right grounds and against the right persons and also in the right manner at the right moment and for the right length of time."

"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work."

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

"It is clearly better that property should be private, but the use of it common and the special business of the legislator is to create in men this benevolent disposition."

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

"Those who excel in virtue have the best right of all to rebel, but then they are of all men the least inclined to do so."

"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."

"We make war that we may live in peace."

"A visionary sees the unseen possibilities in the heart of common struggles. For where clarity resides, peace inevitably follows — an essential principle for the reflective life."

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

"Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god."

"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."

"Change in all things is sweet."

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

"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."

"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal."

"Men are swayed more by fear than by reverence."

"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."

"Happiness depends upon ourselves."

"To run away from trouble is a form of cowardice and, while it is true that the suicide braves death, he does it not for some noble object but to escape some ill."

"The secret to humor is surprise."

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

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

"In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme."

"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."

"Therefore, the good of man must be the end of the science of politics."