Overview
Aristotle was born 384 BC in the Macedonian city of Stagira. He is considered one of the greatest thinkers in philosophy, politics, ethics and psychology.
Aristotle entered Plato's school at the age of 17. In 335 BC he started his school Lyceum. Three years later, Alexander took admission in this school. After starting Lyceum, Arastu(Aristotle) spent most of the rest of his life there studying and writing.
Aristotle quotes
“Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers. ”
“Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them. ”
“All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire. ”
“All men by nature desire knowledge. ”
“Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered. ”
“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. ”
“At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst. ”
“Bad men are full of repentance. ”
“Bashfulness is an ornament to youth, but a reproach to old age. ”
“In making a speech one must study three points: first, the means of producing persuasion; second, the language; third the proper arrangement of the various parts of the speech. ”
“In nine cases out of ten, a woman had better show more affection than she feels. ”
“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. ”
“It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken. ”
“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. ”
“Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms. ”
“Bring your desires down to your present means. Increase them only when your increased means permit. ”
“Change in all things is sweet. ”
“Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion. ”
“Courage is a mean with regard to fear and confidence. ”
“Education is the best provision for old age. ”
“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. ”
“Homer has taught all other poets the art of telling lies skillfully. ”
“Hope is a waking dream. ”
“I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self. ”
“Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity. ”
“If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is nature's way.' ”
“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. ”
“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. ”
“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.”
“Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others. ”
“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. ”
“He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled. ”
“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. ”
“A constitution is the arrangement of magistracies in a state. ”
“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. ”
“Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil. ”
“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. ”
“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.' ”
“All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind. ”
“All virtue is summed up in dealing justly. ”
“A friend to all is a friend to none. ”
“A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one. ”
“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. ”
“For though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first. ”
“Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies. ”
“Good habits formed at youth make all the difference. ”
“Happiness depends upon ourselves.”