Top 1292 Quotes & Sayings by Aristotle

Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Greek philosopher Aristotle.
Last updated on December 25, 2024.
Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Lyceum, the Peripatetic school of philosophy, and the Aristotelian tradition. His writings cover many subjects including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theatre, music, rhetoric, psychology, linguistics, economics, politics, meteorology, geology, and government. Aristotle provided a complex synthesis of the various philosophies existing prior to him. It was above all from his teachings that the West inherited its intellectual lexicon, as well as problems and methods of inquiry. As a result, his philosophy has exerted a unique influence on almost every form of knowledge in the West and it continues to be a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion.

Greek - Philosopher | 384 BC - 322 BC
The end of labor is to gain leisure.
Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.
We make war that we may live in peace. — © Aristotle
We make war that we may live in peace.
What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.
The law is reason, free from passion.
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.
Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms.
The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.
Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.
All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire.
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.
At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.
Change in all things is sweet. — © Aristotle
Change in all things is sweet.
The most perfect political community is one in which the middle class is in control, and outnumbers both of the other classes.
Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.
I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.
It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken.
The secret to humor is surprise.
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.
Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.
Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.
Friendship is essentially a partnership.
In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.
There is no great genius without some touch of madness.
Happiness depends upon ourselves.
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference.
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.
Well begun is half done.
He who hath many friends hath none.
Hope is a waking dream.
You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.
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.
The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.
Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach.
The state comes into existence for the sake of life and continues to exist for the sake of good life.
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.
The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead. — © Aristotle
The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead.
Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.
Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.
Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind.
The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.
Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them.
Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.
Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.
Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity. — © Aristotle
Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.
My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.
The soul never thinks without a picture.
The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.
The energy of the mind is the essence of life.
Education is the best provision for old age.
Quality is not an act, it is a habit.
A friend to all is a friend to none.
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.
The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.
Wit is educated insolence.
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