Aristotle Quotes
75 quotes
Aristotle
Systematic approach to logic, ethics, and natural philosophy
75 Quotes
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book II
To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book II
The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII
The energy of the mind is the essence of life
— De Anima (On the Soul), Book II
Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book IV
Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular
— Poetics, Chapter 9
Education is the best provision for old age
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII
What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII
Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit
— Nicomachean Ethics
Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference
— Rhetoric, Book I
Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII
Hope is a waking dream
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book I
Happiness depends upon ourselves
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book I
The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom
— Politics, Book III
In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous
— Parts of Animals, Book I
Man is by nature a social animal
— Politics
Virtue lies in our power, and similarly so does vice
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book III
The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know
— Metaphysics, Book I
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book V
The whole is not the same as the sum of its parts
— Metaphysics, Book VIII
Learning is not child's play; we cannot learn without pain
— Metaphysics, Book I
The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead
— Protrepticus (Fragment)
He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader
— Politics, Book I, Chapter 5
The hand is the tool of tools
— Metaphysics, Book VIII
He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader
— Politics, Book I
Nature does nothing in vain
— Politics, Book I
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance
— Poetics
The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold
— On the Heavens, Book I
Character is determined by choice, not by opinion
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book III
The difference between a learned man and an unlearned one is as great as that between the living and the dead
— Metaphysics, Book I
All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire
— Rhetoric, Book I
He who has overcome his fears will truly be free
— Rhetoric, Book II
Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom
— Nicomachean Ethics
The beginning seems to be more than half of the whole
— Politics, Book V
Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book I
Wit is educated insolence
— Rhetoric, Book II, Chapter 12
Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope
— Rhetoric, Book II
The law is reason, free from passion
— Politics, Book III
He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled
— Politics, Book IV
Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII
The investigation of truth is in one way hard, in another easy; to the hard thing, however, made easier by dividing it into parts
— Metaphysics, Book II
Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil
— Rhetoric, Book II, Chapter 5
Quality is not an act, it is a habit
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book II
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book IX, Chapter 9
All human beings, by nature, desire to know
— Metaphysics, Book I
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
— Metaphysics
Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work
— Nicomachean Ethics
Time crumbles things; everything grows old under the power of Time and is forgotten through the lapse of Time
— Physics, Book IV
Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms
— Politics, Book IV
Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work
— Metaphysics, Book I
Every virtue is both a means and an end
— Eudemian Ethics, Book II
Democracy arose from men thinking that if they are equal in any respect, they are equal absolutely
— Politics, Book III
The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book IX
The end of labor is to gain leisure
— Politics, Book VII
All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind
— Politics, Book VII
It is not once nor twice but times without number that the same ideas make their appearance in the world
— Metaphysics, Book XII
It is possible to fail in many ways...while to succeed is possible only in one way
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book II, Chapter 6
Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers
— Politics, Book IV
Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime
— Politics, Book II
All men by nature desire to know
— Metaphysics, Book I
One swallow does not make a summer, nor does one day; likewise one day or a short time does not make a man blessed and happy
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book I
All art, however, has its origin in the creative power of the soul
— Metaphysics, Book I
A friend to all is a friend to none
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII
He who has many friends has no friends
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book IX
The soul never thinks without a picture
— De Anima, Book III
Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book III
He who studies how things originate will achieve the clearest view of them
— Meteorologica, Book I
He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled
— Politics, Book I
We deliberate not about ends, but about means
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book III
The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book X
He who has overcome his fears will truly be free
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book III
At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst
— Politics, Book I
Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing
— Nicomachean Ethics, Book IV
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it
— Metaphysics, Book IV