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Quote by Aristotle

“In all well-attempered governments there is nothing which should be more jealously maintained than the spirit of obedience to law, more especially in small matters; for transgression creeps in unperceived and at last ruins the state, just as the constant recurrence of small expenses in time eats up a fortune.”

Quote by Aristotle

Book:The Essential Aristotle

Work

The Essential Aristotle

This compilation brings together essential writings of Aristotle, offering readers a concise yet profound understanding of his intellectual legacy. It includes extracts from his major treatises, providing a glimpse into his logical reasoning, empirical observations, and philosophical theories that have influenced Western thought for centuries. more

Author

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. more

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“There are three qualifications required in those who have to fill the highest offices, - (1) first of all, loyalty to the established constitution; (2) the greatest administrative capacity; (3) virtue and justice of the kind proper to each form of government.”

Firsts Kind Government Form Three Justice Virtue Office Highest Capacity Constitution Loyalty Forms Of Government Qualifications Administrative

Book:The Essential Aristotle

Source: The Essential Aristotle

“Neither should we forget the mean, which at the present day is lost sight of in perverted forms of government; for many practices which appear to be democratical are the ruin of democracies, . . Those who think that all virtue is to be found in their own party principles push matters to extremes; they do not consider that disproportion destroys a state.”

Thinking Should Mean Matter States Government Form Found Lost Forget Party Principles Practice Virtue Democracy Sight Extremes Ruins Forms Of Government Present Day

Book:Politics

Source: Politics

“Once more: there are three offices according to whose directions the highest magistrates are chosen in certain states - guardians of the law, probuli, councilors - of these, the guardians of the law are an aristocratical, the probuli an oligarchical, the council a democratical institution.”

States Government Law Certain Three Office Highest Institutions Chosen Council Guardian Magistrates

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Aristotle (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Aristotle (Illustrated)

“Now it is evident that the form of government is best in which every man, whoever he is, can act best and live happily.”

Men Government Form Every Man Evident Forms Of Government

Book:Politics

Source: Politics

“The good lawgiver should inquire how states and races of men and communities may participate in a good life, and in the happiness which is attainable by them.”

Men Should May States Government Community Race Good Life

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

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

“There is nothing grand or noble in having the use of a slave, in so far as he is a slave; or in issuing commands about necessary things. But it is an error to suppose that every sort of rule is despotic like that of a master over slaves, for there is as great a difference between the rule over freemen and the rule over slaves as there is between slavery by nature and freedom by nature . .”

Use Government Differences Masters Slavery Errors Slave Noble Command Freeman Necessary Things

Book:Politics

Source: Politics

“If, therefore, there is any one superior in virtue and in the power of performing the best actions, him we ought to follow and obey, but he must have the capacity for action as well as virtue.”

Ifs Wells Government Action Virtue Ought Capacity Superiors Performing

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Aristotle (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Aristotle (Illustrated)

“Some things the legislator must find ready to his hand in a state, others he must provide. And therefore we can only say: May our state be constituted in such a manner as to be blessed with the goods of which fortune disposes (for we acknowledge her power): whereas virtue and goodness in the state are not a matter of chance but the result of knowledge and purpose. A city can be virtuous only when the citizens who have a share in the government are virtuous, and in our state all the citizens share in the government.”

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Aristotle (Illustrated)

“The government of freemen is nobler and implies more virtue than despotic government. Neither is a city to be deemed happy or a legislator to be praised because he trains his citizens to conquer and obtain dominion over their neighbors, for there is great evil in this.”

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Book:The Essential Aristotle

Source: The Essential Aristotle

“Neither should men study war with a view to the enslavement of those who do not deserve to be enslaved; but first of all they should provide against their own enslavement, and in the second place obtain empire for the good of the governed, and not for the sake of exercising a general despotism, and in the third place they should seek to be masters only over those who deserve to be slaves.”

Men Should Firsts War Government Views Study Masters Exercise Deserve Thirds Slave Sake Empires Despotism Enslavement Be A Slave Second Place Third Place

Book:The Essential Aristotle

Source: The Essential Aristotle