Aristotle Quotes

Philosopher

Aristotle, a renowned Greek philosopher, is one of the founders of Western philosophy. His thoughts covered a wide range of fields, including ethics, logic, politics, and had a profound impact on the world.

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Famous Aristotle Quotes

“When we deliberate it is about means and not ends.”

Mean Ideas Ends Deliberate

Book:Ethics: The Nicomachean Ethics

Source: Ethics: The Nicomachean Ethics

“This much then, is clear: in all our conduct it is the mean that is to be commended.”

Mean Action Clear

Author:Aristotle

“So virtue is a purposive disposition, lying in a mean that is relative to us and determined by a rational principle, and by that which a prudent man would use to determine it. It is a mean between two kinds of vice, one of excess and the other of deficiency.”

Men Kind Mean Two Use Lying Principles Virtue Ethics Determine Vices Determined Rational Relative Excess Disposition Deficiency Prudent

Author:Aristotle

“A good style must, first of all, be clear. It must not be mean or above the dignity of the subject. It must be appropriate.”

Writing Firsts Mean Clear Subjects Style Dignity Appropriate

Author:Aristotle

“For both excessive and insufficient exercise destroy one's strength, and both eating and drinking too much or too little destroy health, whereas the right quantity produces, increases and preserves it. So it is the same with temperance, courage and the other virtues. This much then, is clear: in all our conduct it is the mean that is to be commended.”

Mean Littles Virtue Clear Too Much Produce Exercise Healthy Eating Increase Drinking Preserves Quantity Temperance Insufficient Eating And Drinking Drinking Too Much

Author:Aristotle

“Good has two meanings: it means that which is good absolutely and that which is good for somebody.”

Mean Two Goodness Two Meaning

Author:Aristotle

“Virtue makes us aim at the right end, and practical wisdom makes us take the right means.”

Mean Ends Interesting Virtue Aim Practicals

Book:The Philosophy Collection [97 Books]

Source: The Philosophy Collection [97 Books]

“Temperance and bravery, then, are ruined by excess and deficiency, but preserved by the mean.”

Mean Bravery Excess Ruined Deficiency Temperance

Book:Aristotle: Introductory Readings

Source: Aristotle: Introductory Readings

“Virtue is the golden mean between two vices, the one of excess and the other of deficiency.”

Mean Two Virtue Vices Golden Excess Deficiency Golden Mean

Author:Aristotle

“Tyrants preserve themselves by sowing fear and mistrust among the citizens by means of spies, by distracting them with foreign wars, by eliminating men of spirit who might lead a revolution, by humbling the people, and making them incapable of decisive action.”

People Men Mean War Might Action Spirit Revolution Citizens Preserves Tyrants Incapable Spy Mistrust Humbling Eliminating Sowing Decisive Action

Author:Aristotle

“Some vices miss what is right because they are deficient, others because they are excessive, in feelings or in actions, while virtue finds and chooses the mean.”

Mean Feelings Action Virtue Missing Vices Nicomachean Ethics

Book:Aristotle: Selections

Source: Aristotle: Selections

“Again, it is possible to fail in many ways (for evil belongs to the class of the unlimited and good to that of the limited), while to succeed is possible only in one way (for which reason also one is easy and the other difficult—to miss the mark easy, to hit it difficult); for these reasons also, then, excess and defect are characteristic of vice, and the mean of virtue; For men are good in but one way, but bad in many.”

Source: Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation

“Money was intended to be used in exchange, but not to increase at interest. And this term interest, which means the birth of money from money, is applied to the breeding of money because the offspring resembles the parent. Wherefore of all modes of getting wealth this is the most unnatural.”

Mean Used Parent Term Interest Wealth Birth Increase Unnatural Breeding Offspring Usury

Book:Politics

Source: Politics

“Every virtue is a mean between two extremes, each of which is a vice.”

Mean Two Virtue Vices Extremes Two Extremes

Author:Aristotle