Home / Quotes / Quote by Aristotle

Quote by Aristotle

“A constitution is the arrangement of magistracies in a state, especially of the highest of all. The government is everywhere sovereign in the state, and the constitution is in fact the government.”

Quote by Aristotle

Book:Aristotle: The Politics and the Constitution of Athens

Work

Aristotle: The Politics and the Constitution of Athens

In this compilation, Aristotle explores the principles of governance and the structure of the Athenian state, offering insights into the political and social dynamics of ancient Greece. 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

You May Also Like

“When the citizens at large administer the state for the common interest, the government is called by the generic name - a constitution.”

States Government Names Interest Common Citizens Constitution Generic Common Interests Generic Name

Book:The Essential Aristotle

Source: The Essential Aristotle

“Any change of government which has to be introduced should be one which men, starting from their existing constitutions, will be both willing and able to adopt, since there is quite as much trouble in the reformation of an old constitution as in the establishment of a new one, just as to unlearn is as hard as to learn.”

Men Should Hard Government Able Trouble Willing Constitution Starting Establishment Reformation Unlearn

Book:Politics

Source: Politics

“The laws are, and ought to be, relative to the constitution, and not the constitution to the laws. A constitution is the organization of offices in a state, and determines what is to be the governing body, and what is the end of each community. But laws are not to be confounded with the principles of the constitution; they are the rules according to which the magistrates should administer the state, and proceed against offenders.”

Should Ends States Body Law Community Principles Ought Office Organization Constitution Determine Relative Governing Offenders Magistrates

Book:Aristotle

Source: Aristotle

“If what was said in the Ethics is true, that the happy life is the life according to virtue lived without impediment, and that virtue is a mean, then the life which is in a mean, and in a mean attainable by every one, must be the best. And the same principles of virtue and vice are characteristic of cities and of constitutions; for the constitution is in a figure the life of the city.”

Ifs Mean Said Life Is Cities Principles Virtue Figures Ethics Constitution Vices Characteristics Being The Best Happy Life Impediments

Book:The Essential Aristotle

Source: The Essential Aristotle

“The citizens begin by giving up some part of the constitution, and so with greater ease the government change something else which is a little more important, until they have undermined the whole fabric of the state.”

Giving Littles Important States Whole Government Greater Citizens Giving Up Constitution Ease Fabric

Book:The Essential Aristotle

Source: The Essential Aristotle

“In the first place, then, men should guard against the beginning of change, and in the second place they should not rely upon the political devices of which I have already spoken invented only to deceive the people, for they are proved by experience to be useless.”

People Men Should Firsts Political Constitution Useless Rely Devices Deceiving Rely Upon Second Place

Book:Aristotle's Politics: Writings from the Complete Works: Politics, Economics, Constitution of Athens

Source: Aristotle's Politics: Writings from the Complete Works: Politics, Economics, Constitution of Athens

“Who can I trust? You have to invest in somebody and chances are you're probably going to invest in somebody who's going to deceive you. I've been conned a couple of times, but now I'm a little more savvy.”

Littles Chance Couple Deceiving Chances Are Hype Savvy I Trust You Conning Can I Trust You

Author:Maggie Gyllenhaal

“That which most contributes to the permanence of constitutions is the adaptation of education to the form of government, and yet in our own day this principle is universally neglected. The best laws, though sanctioned by every citizen of the state, will be of no avail unless the young are trained by habit and education in the spirit of the constitution.”

States Government Form Law Young Spirit Principles Habit Citizens Constitution Adaptation Neglected Forms Of Government Permanence

Book:The Essential Aristotle

Source: The Essential Aristotle

“The form of government is a democracy when the free, who are also poor and the majority, govern, and an oligarchy when the rich and the noble govern, they being at the same time few in number.”

Government Form Poor Numbers Democracy Rich Majority Noble Forms Of Government Oligarchy

Book:Aristotle's Politics: Writings from the Complete Works: Politics, Economics, Constitution of Athens

Source: Aristotle's Politics: Writings from the Complete Works: Politics, Economics, Constitution of Athens

“Democracy appears to be safer and less liable to revolution than oligarchy. For in oligarchies there is the double danger of the oligarchs falling out among themselves and also with the people; but in democracies there is only the danger of a quarrel with the oligarchs. No dissension worth mentioning arises among the people themselves. And we may further remark that a government which is composed of the middle class more nearly approximates to democracy than to oligarchy, and is the safest of the imperfect forms of government.”

Source: On man in the universe: Metaphysics, Parts of animals, Ethics, Politics, Poetics