Aristotle Quotes

Quality is not an act. It is a habit.

~ Aristotle

Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.

~ Aristotle

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

~ Aristotle

Life is full of chances and changes and the most prosperous of men may ... meet with great misfortunes.

~ Aristotle

Inferiors revolt in order that they may be equal and equals that they may be superior.

~ Aristotle

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

~ Aristotle

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

~ Aristotle

Happiness depends upon ourselves.

~ Aristotle

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

~ Aristotle

To amuse oneself in order that one may exert oneself, as Anacharsis puts it, seems right; for amusement is a sort of relaxation, and we need relaxation because we cannot work continuously.

~ Aristotle

And further, observing that all this indeterminate substance is in motion, and that no true predication can be made of that which changes, they supposed that it is impossible to make any true statement about that which is in all ways and entirely changeable. For it was from this supposition that there blossomed forth the most extreme view of those which we have mentioned, that of the professed followers of Heraclitus, and such as Cratylus held, who ended by thinking that one need not say anything, and only moved his finger; and who criticized Heraclitus for saying that one cannot enter the same river twice, for he himself held that it cannot be done even once.

~ Aristotle

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.

~ Aristotle

Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.

~ Aristotle

We are not angry with people we fear or respect, as long as we fear or respect them; you cannot be afraid of a person and also at the same time angry with him.

~ Aristotle

We make war that we may live in peace.

~ Aristotle

Well begun is half done.

~ Aristotle

The end of labor is to gain leisure.

~ Aristotle

Man is by nature a political animal.

~ Aristotle

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

~ Aristotle

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

~ Aristotle

Nature does nothing in vain.

~ 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

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

~ Aristotle

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

~ Aristotle

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

~ Aristotle

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.

~ Aristotle

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

~ Aristotle

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.

~ Aristotle

Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.

~ Aristotle

Education is the best provision for old age.

~ Aristotle

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

~ 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

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

~ Aristotle

There is no great genius without some touch of madness.

~ 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

We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; in feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.

~ Aristotle

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

~ Aristotle

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

~ Aristotle

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

~ Aristotle

Persuasion is achieved by the speaker's personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible. We believe good men more fully and more readily than others: this is true generally whatever the question is, and absolutely true where exact certainty is impossible and opinions are divided.

~ Aristotle