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Famous Aristotle Quotes

“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.”

MenDoeGood ThingsEnvyJealousyReasonableJealousNeighbourEnviedBeing JealousJealousy EnvyJealousy And EnvyLove JealousyJealous And EnvyReasonable ManLove And JealousyGet JealousJealous PeopleFriend JealousyNot JealousJealous LoveJealous Man
Author:Aristotle
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“The tyrant, who in order to hold his power, suppresses every superiority, does away with good men, forbids education and light, controls every movement of the citizens and, keeping them under a perpetual servitude, wants them to grow accustomed to baseness and cowardice, has his spies everywhere to listen to what is said in the meetings, and spreads dissension and calumny among the citizens and impoverishes them, is obliged to make war in order to keep his subjects occupied and impose on them permanent need of a chief.”

MenWantNeedsDoeSaidWarLightOrderGrowsSubjectsMovementCitizensMeetingsSpreadChiefsPermanentGood ManTyrantsCowardicePerpetualSuperiorityAccustomedSpyObligedServitudeCalumnyDissensionBaseness
Author:Aristotle
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“Therefore the good man ought to be a lover of self, since he will then both benefit himself by acting nobly and aid his fellows; but the bad man ought not to be a lover of self, since he will follow his base passions, and so injure both himself and his neighbors. With the bad man therefore, what he does is not in accord with what he ought to do, but the good man does what he ought, since intelligence always chooses for itself that which is best, and the good man obeys his intelligence.”

MenDoeSelfPassionActingOughtLoversBenefitsFellowsAidsNeighborGood ManAccordBad Man
Book:The Nicomachean ethics
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“It must not be supposed that happiness will demand many or great possessions; for self-sufficiency does not depend on excessive abundance, nor does moral conduct, and it is possible to perform noble deeds even without being ruler of land and sea: one can do virtuous acts with quite moderate resources. This may be clearly observed in experience: private citizens do not seem to be less but more given to doing virtuous actions than princes and potentates. It is sufficient then if moderate resources are forthcoming; for a life of virtuous activity will be essentially a happy life.”

IfsMayDoeSelfSeemsActionHappinessGivenCan DoMoralSeaLandDependsCitizensActivityDemandResourcesDeedsPossessionNobleSufficientAbundanceHappy LifeVirtuousRulersModeratesLife HappinessSelf SufficiencySufficiencyForthcomingLand And SeaNoble Deeds
Author:Aristotle
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“Virtue also depends on ourselves. And so also does vice. For where we are free to act we are also free to refrain from acting, and where we are able to say No we are also able to say Yes; if therefore we are responsible for doing a thing when to do it right, we are also responsible for not doing it when not to do it is wrong, and if we are responsible for rightly not doing a thing, we are also responsible for wrongly doing it.”

IfsDoeAbleActingMoralVirtueDependsResponsibleVicesRefrain
Book:The Nicomachean ethics
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“Happiness does not consist in amusement. In fact, it would be strange if our end were amusement, and if we were to labor and suffer hardships all our life long merely to amuse ourselves.... The happy life is regarded as a life in conformity with virtue. It is a life which involves effort and is not spent in amusement.”

IfsLongDoeEndsFactsWould BeLife IsSufferingEffortVirtueOur LivesStrangeLaborHardshipConformityHappy LifeAmusementLong Life
Author:Aristotle
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“Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god.”

MenNeedsHumansDoeSelfIndividualSocialAnimalCommonSufficientBeastHuman SocietySelf SufficientCommon Life
Author:Aristotle
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“The legislator should direct his attention above all to the education of youth; for the neglect of education does harm to the constitution. The citizen should be molded to suit the form of government under which he lives. For each government has a peculiar character which originally formed and which continues to preserve it. The character of democracy creates democracy, and the character of oligarchy creates oligarchy.”

ShouldDoeCharacterGovernmentFormAttentionDemocracyYouthCitizensDirectConstitutionHarmSuitsPreservesNeglectPeculiarForms Of GovernmentLegislatorsOligarchy
Book:The Essential Aristotle
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“Distance does not break off the friendship absolutely, but only the activity of it.”

DoeBreakActivityDistanceLong DistanceDistance RelationshipLong Distance RelationshipLong Distance RelationGood Long Distance RelationshipLong Distance Relationship LoveShort Long Distance RelationshipInspiring Long Distance RelationshipStrong Long Distance RelationshipNew Long Distance RelationshipLong Distant RelationshipDistant RelationshipBreak Off
Book:Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation
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“The sun, moving as it does, sets up processes of change and becoming and decay, and by its agency the finest and sweetest water is every day carried up and is dissolved into vapour and rises to the upper region, where it is condensed again by the cold and so returns to the earth. This, as we have said before, is the regular course of nature.”

DoeSaidEarthMovingCoursesProcessWaterSunColdReturnBecomingRainAgencyRegionsDecayFinestSweetestVapourProcess Of Change
Book:The Philosophy Collection [97 Books]
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“Salt water when it turns into vapour becomes sweet, and the vapour does not form salt water when it condenses again. This I know by experiment. The same thing is true in every case of the kind: wine and all fluids that evaporate and condense back into a liquid state become water. They all are water modified by a certain admixture, the nature of which determines their flavour.”

KnowsKindDoeStatesFormScienceCertainTurnsWaterCasesSweetSolutionsWineDetermineExperimentsSaltFluidLiquidFlavourVapourSalt Water
Book:Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 1: The Revised Oxford Translation
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“Anger is always concerned with individuals, ... whereas hatred is directed also against classes: we all hate any thief and any informer. Moreover, anger can be cured by time; but hatred cannot. The one aims at giving pain to its object, the other at doing him harm; the angry man wants his victim to feel; the hater does not mind whether they feel or not.”

MenWantGivingFeelsMindDoePainHateIndividualClassObjectsConcernedHatredAngerAimVictimAngryHarmThievesAngry ManInformers
Book:The Works of Aristotle
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“Since we think we understand when we know the explanation, and there are four types of explanation (one, what it is to be a thing; one, that if certain things hold it is necessary that this does; another, what initiated the change; and fourth, the aim), all these are proved through the middle term.”

IfsThinkingKnowsDoeScienceCertainTermFourMiddleTypeEvidenceAimExplanationFourth
Book:The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation, One-Volume Digital Edition
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