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Aristotle Quotes

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Famous Aristotle Quotes

“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.”

WayLifePersonsWisdomSuccessPurposeTimePoliticsEasyPowerLife PhilosophyWise WordsWords Of WisdomDegreesSelf ImprovementAngerAngryRight WayRight TimeWise Man Once SaidRight PersonAnger ManagementPissed OffAncient GreekGreek PhilosopherMake Me AngryGreek PhilosophyMoral ExcellenceAnger InsideAngry PersonThat Right PersonAnger Issues
Book:Wit and Wisdom of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle: Being a Treasury of Thousands of Glorious, Inspiring and Imperishable Thoughts, Views and Observations of the Three Great Greek Philosophers, Classified Under about Four Hundred Subjects for Comparative Study
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“Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way.”

MenWayActingQualityDestinyParticularIntegrityEthicsAcquireMan Of IntegrityMoral EthicsLeadership IntegrityEthics And IntegrityBold Actions
Book:Wit and Wisdom of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle: Being a Treasury of Thousands of Glorious, Inspiring and Imperishable Thoughts, Views and Observations of the Three Great Greek Philosophers, Classified Under about Four Hundred Subjects for Comparative Study
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“Anyone, without any great penetration, may distinguish the dispositions consequent on wealth; for its possessors are insolent and overbearing, from being tainted in a certain way by the getting of their wealth. For they are affected as though they possessed every good; since wealth is a sort of standard of the worth of other things; whence every thing seems to be purchasable by it.”

WayMaySeemsCertainWealthStandardsVery GoodAffectedPossessedDispositionTaintedPenetrationInsolentOverbearing
Book:Aristotle's Treatise on Rhetoric
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“It is well said, then, that it is by doing just acts that the just man is produced, and by doing temperate acts the temperate man; without doing these no one would have even a prospect of becoming good. But most people do not do these, but take refuge in theory and think they are being philosophers and will become good in this way, behaving somewhat like patients who listen attentively to their doctors, but do none of the things they are ordered to do.”

PeopleThinkingMenWayWellsSaidTheoryBecomingDoctorsPatientPhilosopherRefugeWell SaidNicomachean Ethics
Book:Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation
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“Rhetoric is the counterpart of logic; since both are conversant with subjects of such a nature as it is the business of all to have a certain knowledge of, and which belong to no distinct science. Wherefore all men in some way participate of both; since all, to a certain extent, attempt, as well to sift, as to maintain an argument; as well to defend themselves, as to impeach.”

MenWayWellsCertainSubjectsArgumentLogicRhetoricCounterpartsCertain Knowledge
Book:Aristotle's Treatise on Rhetoric
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“Persuasion is effected through the medium of the hearers, when they shall have been brought to a state of excitement under the influence of speech; for we do not, when influenced by pain or joy, or partiality or dislike, award our decisions in the same way; about which means of persuasion alone, I declare that the system-mongers of the present day busy themselves.”

WayMeanHas BeensStatesPainJoyDecisionInfluenceSpeechBusyMediumsExcitementAwardsDislikePersuasionPresent DayPartiality
Book:Treatise on Rhetoric: Literally Translated from the Greek
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“The first essential responsibility of the state is control of the market-place: there must be some official charged with the duty of seeing that honest dealing and good order prevail. For one of the well-nigh essential activities of all states is the buying and selling of goods to meet their mutual basic needs; this is the quickest way to self-sufficiency, which seems to be what moves men to combine under a single constitution.”

MenWayNeedsFirstsWellsSelfStatesWisdomSeemsMovingOrderPoliticsResponsibilityEconomySeeingHonestDutyActivityEssentialsConstitutionSellingOfficialsLiberalismBuyingMutualGoodsSelf SufficiencySufficiencyBasic NeedsAll StateBuying And Selling
Author:Aristotle
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“For imitation is natural to man from his infancy. Man differs from other animals particularly in this, that he is imitative, and acquires his rudiments of knowledge in this way; besides, the delight in it is universal.”

MenWayNaturalAnimalUniversalDelightAcquireImitationInfancy
Book:Wit and Wisdom of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle: Being a Treasury of Thousands of Glorious, Inspiring and Imperishable Thoughts, Views and Observations of the Three Great Greek Philosophers, Classified Under about Four Hundred Subjects for Comparative Study
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“There are, then, these three means of effecting persuasion. The man who is to be in command of them must, it is clear, be able (1) to reason logically, (2) to understand human character and goodness in their various forms, and (3) to understand the emotions--that is, to name them and describe them, to know their causes and the way in which they are excited.”

KnowsMenWayHumansMeanReasonCharacterAbleFormThreeNamesCausesEmotionClearHe ManGoodnessVariousExcitedCommandPersuasion
Book:The Modern Library Collection of Greek and Roman Philosophy 3-Book Bundle: Meditations; Selected Dialogues of Plato; The Basic Works of Aristotle
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“Error is multiform (for evil is a form of the unlimited, as in the old Pythagorean imagery, and good of the limited), whereas success is possible in one way only (which is why it is easy to fail and difficult to succeed - easy to miss the target and difficult to hit it); so this is another reason why excess and deficiency are a mark of vice, and observance of the mean a mark of virtue: Goodness is simple, badness is manifold.”

WayMeanReasonFormEvilEasyDifficultSimpleVirtueFailingMissingSucceedGoodnessMarkErrorsVicesOne WayReason WhyTargetExcessUnlimitedImageryDeficiencyBadnessObservanceManifold
Book:The Nicomachean ethics
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“Just as a royal rule, if not a mere name, must exist by virtue of some great personal superiority in the king, so tyranny, which is the worst of governments, is necessarily the farthest removed from a well-constituted form; oligarchy is little better, for it is a long way from aristocracy, and democracy is the most tolerable of the three.”

IfsWayWellsLittlesLongGovernmentFormThreeNamesVirtueDemocracyWorstKingsMereTyrannySuperiorityRoyalLong WayAristocracyTolerableOligarchyGreat Person
Book:The Essential Aristotle
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“Whereas happiness is the highest good, being a realization and perfect practice of virtue, which some can attain, while others have little or none of it, the various qualities of men are clearly the reason why there are various kinds of states and many forms of government; for different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life and forms of government.”

MenWayKindMeanLittlesDifferentStatesReasonGovernmentFormPerfectQualityPracticeVirtueHuman NatureHighestVariousRealizationReason WhyDifferent WaysForms Of GovernmentPerfect Practice
Book:The Essential Aristotle
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“All are agreed that the various moral qualities are in a sense bestowed by nature: we are just, and capable of temperance, and brave, and possessed of the other virtues from the moment of our birth. But nevertheless we expect to find that true goodness is something different, and that the virtues in the true sense come to belong to us in another way. For even children and wild animals possess the natural dispositions, yet without Intelligence these may manifestly be harmful.”

WayMayChildrenDifferentMomentsNaturalAnimalQualityMoralVirtueHuman NatureBirthGoodnessCapableBraveVariousPossessedNeverthelessDispositionAnother WayTemperanceWild Animal
Book:The Nicomachean ethics
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“As to adultery, let it be held disgraceful, in general, for any man or woman to be found in any way unfaithful when they are married, and called husband and wife. If during the time of bearing children anything of the sort occur, let the guilty person be punished with a loss of privileges in proportion to the offense.”

IfsMenWayChildrenPersonsLawFoundJusticeLossWifeHusbandMarriedPrivilegeGuiltyProportionOffenseAdulteryHusband And WifeUnfaithfulDisgracefulGuilty Person
Book:Aristotle: The Politics and the Constitution of Athens
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“The ensouled is distinguished from the unsouled by its being alive. Now since being alive is spoken of in many ways, even if only one of these is present, we say that the thing is alive, if, for instance, there is intellect or perception or spatial movement and rest or indeed movement connected with nourishment and growth and decay. It is for this reason that all the plants are also held to be alive . . .”

IfsWaySoulReasonGrowthAliveMovementPerceptionPlantConnectedIntellectInstanceDecayDistinguishedNourishmentSpatial
Author:Aristotle
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“Now the soul of man is divided into two parts, one of which has a rational principle in itself, and the other, not having a rational principle in itself, is able to obey such a principle. And we call a man in any way good because he has the virtues of these two parts.”

MenWayTwoSoulAblePrinciplesVirtueRationalDivided
Book:Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation
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“But then in what way are things called good? They do not seem to be like the things that only chance to have the same name. Are goods one then by being derived from one good or by all contributing to one good, or are they rather one by analogy? Certainly as sight is in the body, so is reason in the soul, and so on in other cases.”

WaySoulReasonBodySeemsNamesChanceCasesSightGoodsAnalogiesContributing
Book:Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation
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“There is an ideal of excellence for any particular craft or occupation; similarly there must be an excellent that we can achieve as human beings. That is, we can live our lives as a whole in such a way that they can be judged not just as excellent in this respect or in that occupation, but as excellent, period. Only when we develop our truly human capacities sufficiently to achieve this human excellent will we have lives blessed with happiness.”

WayHumansWholeHuman BeingsOur LivesAchieveParticularPeriodsCapacityIdealsBlessedExcellenceCraftsExcellentOccupationJudgedHuman Capacity
Author:Aristotle
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“The investigation of the truth is in one way hard, in another easy. An indication of this is found in the fact that no one is able to attain the truth adequately, while, on the other hand, no one fails entirely, but everyone says something true about the nature of all things, and while individually they contribute little or nothing to the truth, by the union of all a considerable amount is amassed.”

WayLittlesHardFactsHandsAbleFoundEasyFailingAmountTruth IsAll ThingsUnionsOne WayInvestigationIndication
Author:Aristotle
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“There is more evidence to prove that saltness [of the sea] is due to the admixture of some substance, besides that which we have adduced. Make a vessel of wax and put it in the sea, fastening its mouth in such a way as to prevent any water getting in. Then the water that percolates through the wax sides of the vessel is sweet, the earthy stuff, the admixture of which makes the water salt, being separated off as it were by a filter.”

WayScienceStuffSidesWaterSeaSweetProveMouthsEvidenceDuesExperimentsSubstanceSaltVesselFilters
Book:Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 1: The Revised Oxford Translation
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“Now, the causes being four, it is the business of the student of nature to know about them all, and if he refers his problems back to all of them, he will assign the "why" in the way proper to his science-the matter, the form, the mover, that for the sake of which.”

IfsKnowsWayMatterProblemFormScienceCausesFourStudentsResearchSake
Book:Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 1: The Revised Oxford Translation
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