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Aristotle Quotes

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Famous Aristotle Quotes

“Since the branch of philosophy on which we are at present engaged differs from the others in not being a subject of merely intellectual interest — I mean we are not concerned to know what goodness essentially is, but how we are to become good men, for this alone gives the study its practical value — we must apply our minds to the solution of the problems of conduct.”

KnowsMenGivingMindMeanPhilosophyProblemValuesInterestStudySubjectsGoodnessIntellectualSolutionsConcernedPracticalsEngagedBranchesGood Man
Book:Ethics: The Nicomachean Ethics
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“For man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all; since armed injustice is the more dangerous, and he is equipped at birth with the arms of intelligence and with moral qualities which he may use for the worst ends. Wherefore, if he have not virtue, he is the most unholy and the most savage of animals, and the most full of lust and gluttony. But justice is the bond of men in states, and the administration of justice, which is the determination of what is just, is the principle of order in political society.”

IfsMenMayEndsStatesUseLawPoliticalOrderJusticeAnimalQualityMoralPrinciplesVirtueWorstDangerousArmsBirthDeterminationInjusticeLustAdministrationSavagesGluttonyLaw And JusticeAdministration Of Justice
Book: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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“To give away money is an easy matter and in any man's power. But to decide to whom to give it and how large and when, and for what purpose and how, is neither in every man's power nor an easy matter.”

MenInspirationalGivingMatterPurposeEasyMoneyEducationCharityEvery ManPhilanthropyPhilanthropicGiving InGiving To CharityMoney And PowerCharity And GivingGenerosity And GivingPhilanthropy GivingGiving MoneyMoney MattersEasy Money
Book:The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle
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“All men naturally desire knowledge. An indication of this is our esteem for the senses; for apart from their use we esteem them for their own sake, and most of all the sense of sight. Not only with a view to action, but even when no action is contemplated, we prefer sight, generally speaking, to all the other senses. The reason of this is that of all the senses sight best helps us to know things, and reveals many distinctions.”

KnowsMenReasonHelpingUseActionDesireViewsKnowledgeSightSakeSensesEsteemDistinctionIndication
Book:The Metaphysics ...: with an English translation by Hugh Tredennick
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“But since there is but one aim for the entire state, it follows that education must be one and the same for all, and that the responsibility for it must be a public one, not the private affair which it now is, each man looking after his own children and teaching them privately whatever private curriculum he thinks they ought to study.”

ThinkingMenChildrenStatesPoliticsResponsibilityStudyTeachingOughtAimAffairCurriculum
Book:A New Aristotle reader
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“At first he who invented any art that went beyond the common perceptions of man was naturally admired by men, not only because there was something useful in the inventions, but because he was thought wise and superior to the rest. But as more arts were invented, and some were directed to the necessities of life, others to its recreation, the inventors of the latter were always regarded as wiser than the inventors of the former, because their branches of knowledge did not aim at utility.”

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Book:Pocket Aristotle
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