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Aristotle Quotes

Browse 58 quotes about Aristotle.

Aristotle Quotes

“For moral excellence is concerned with pleasures and pains; it is on account of pleasure that we do bad things, and on account of pain that we abstain from noble ones. Hence we ought to have been brought up in a particular way from our very youth, as Plato says, so as both to delight in and to be pained by the things that we ought; for this is the right education.”

PleasureVirtueMoralityEthicsPlatoTemperanceAristotle
Book:Nicomachean Ethics
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“In the history of philosophy, the term “rationalism” has two distinct meanings. In one sense, it signifies an unbreached commitment to reasoned thought in contrast to any irrationalist rejection of the mind. In this sense, Aristotle and Ayn Rand are preeminent rationalists, opposed to any form of unreason, including faith. In a narrower sense, however, rationalism contrasts with empiricism as regards the false dichotomy between commitment to so-called “pure” reason (i.e., reason detached from perceptual reality) and an exclusive reliance on sense experience (i.e., observation without inference therefrom). Rationalism, in this sense, is a commitment to reason construed as logical deduction from non-observational starting points, and a distrust of sense experience (e.g., the method of Descartes). Empiricism, according to this mistaken dichotomy, is a belief that sense experience provides factual knowledge, but any inference beyond observation is a mere manipulation of words or verbal symbols (e.g., the approach of Hume). Both Aristotle and Ayn Rand reject such a false dichotomy between reason and sense experience; neither are rationalists in this narrow sense. Theology is the purest expression of rationalism in the sense of proceeding by logical deduction from premises ungrounded in observable fact—deduction without reference to reality. The so-called “thinking” involved here is purely formal, observationally baseless, devoid of facts, cut off from reality. Thomas Aquinas, for example, was history’s foremost expert regarding the field of “angelology.” No one could match his “knowledge” of angels, and he devoted far more of his massive Summa Theologica to them than to physics.”

PhilosophyFactsRealityHistoryLogicExperiencePhysicsTheologyFactRationalismEmpiricismAristotleHumeAyn RandDavid HumeFalse DichotomyAngelologyLogical DeductionSumma Theologica
Author:Andrew Bernstein
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“All drama is about lies. All drama is about something that’s hidden. A drama starts because a situation becomes imbalanced by a lie. The lie may be something we tell each other or something we think about ourselves, but the lie imbalances a situation. If you’re cheating on your wife the repression of that puts things out of balance; or if you’re someone you think you’re not, and you think you should be further ahead in your job, that neurotic vision takes over your life and you’re plagued by it until you’re cleansed. At the end of a play the lie is revealed. The better the play the more surprising and inevitable the lie is. Aristotle told us this”

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Author:David Mamet
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“In reading any important philosopher, but most of all in reading Aristotle, it is necessary to study him in two ways; with reference to his predecessors, and with reference to his successors. In the former aspect, Aristotle's merits are enormous; in the latter, his demerits are equally enormous. For his demerits, however, his successors are more responsible than he is. He came at the end of the creative period of Greek thought, and after his death it was two thousand years before the world produced any philosopher who would be regarded as approximately his equal. Towards the end of this long period his authority had become almost as unquestioned as the Church, and in science, as well as in philosophy, had become a serious obstacle to progress. Ever since the beginning of the seventeenth century, almost every serious intellectual advance had to begin with an attack on some Aristotelian doctrine; in logic, this is still true at the present day. But it would have been at least as disastrous if any of his predecessors (except perhaps Democritus) had acquired equal authority.”

PhilosophyLogicAristotleAristotelian
Book:A History of Western Philosophy
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“The God of St. Thomas and Dante is a God Who loves, the god of Aristotle is a god who does not refuse to be loved; the love that moves the heavens and the stars in Aristotle is the love of the heavens and the stars for god, but the love that moves them in St. Thomas and Dante is the love of God for the world; between these two motive causes there is all the difference between an efficient cause on the one hand, and a final cause on the other.”

GodAristotleGreek PhilosophyChristian PhilosophyFirt Cause
Author:Étienne Gilson
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“Above all, the function of art is catharsis, purification: emotions accumulated in us under the pressure of social restraints, and liable to sudden issue in unsocial and destructive action, are touched off and sluiced away in the harmless form of theatrical excitement ; so tragedy, "through pity and fear, effects the proper purgation of these emotions." Aristotle [...] in this theory of catharsis he has made a suggestion endlessly fertile in the understanding of the almost mystic power of art.”

ArtPhilosophyAristotleArt Theory
Book:The Story of Aristotle's Philosophy; 39
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“The human heart weights (on average) eleven ounces and beats (approximately) one hundred thousand times per day. In Ancient Greece, the theory was widely held that, as the most powerful and vital part of the body, the heart acted as a brain of sorts- collecting information from all other organs through the circulatory system. Aristotle included thoughts and emotions in his hypotheses relating to the aforementioned information- a fact that modern scientists find quaint in its lack of basic anatomical understanding. There are reports that long after a person is pronounced dead and a mind and soul gone from its casing, under certain conditions, the heart might continue beating for hours. I find myself wondering if in those instances the organ might continue to feel as well. And, if it does, whether it feels more or less pain than mine at present time.”

HeartacheHuman HeartAristotlePippa MarburyFacts WisdomJournal Entry
Book:One Good Earl Deserves a Lover
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“But it will be asked: What is the force and power of the blessings and curses of men, even if these men be such giants as Plato and Aristotle? Does truth become more true because Aristotle blesses it, or does it become error because Plato curses it? Is it given men to judge the truths, to decide the fate of the truths? On the contrary, it is the truths which judge men and decide their fate and not men who rule over the truths. Men, the great as well as the small, are born and die, appear and disappear - but the truth remains. When no one had as yet begun to "think" or to "search," the truths which later revealed themselves to men already existed. And when men will have finally disappeared from the face of the earth, or will have lost the faculty of thinking, the truths will not suffer therefrom.”

TruthHumanismAristotlePlaton
Book:Athens and Jerusalem
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“All men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves; and above all others the sense of sight. For not only with a view to action, but even when we are not going to do anything, we prefer seeing (one might say) to everything else. The reason is that this, most of all the senses, makes us know and brings to light many differences between things.”

SightMetaphysicsSensationAristotle
Book:Metaphysics
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“There is no practical rationality then without the virtues of character. The vicious argue unsoundly from false premises about the good, while the akratic ignores the sound arguments available to him. Only the virtuous are able to argue soundly to those conclusions which are their actions […]”

ReasonJusticeRationalityMoral PhilosophyAristotleGreek PhilosophyVirtue EthicsAnalytical Philosophy
Book:Whose Justice? Which Rationality?
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“It is often asked: Why was capitalism destroyed in spite of its incomparably beneficent record? The answer lies in the fact that the lifeline feeding any social system is a culture’s dominant philosophy and that capitalism never had a philosophical base. It was the last and (theoretically) incomplete product of an Aristotelian influence. As a resurgent tide of mysticism engulfed philosophy in the nineteenth century, capitalism was left in an intellectual vacuum, its lifeline cut. Neither its moral nature nor even its political principles had ever been fully understood or defined. Its alleged defenders regarded it as compatible with government controls (i.e., government interference into the economy), ignoring the meaning and implications of the concept of laissez-faire. Thus, what existed in practice, in the nineteenth century, was not pure capitalism, but variously mixed economies. Since controls necessitate and breed further controls, it was the statist element of the mixtures that wrecked them; it was the free, capitalist element that took the blame.”

PhilosophyGovernmentPoliticsSocietyMoralityCapitalismEconomicsAristotle
Book:What Is Capitalism
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“is often asked: Why was capitalism destroyed in spite of its incomparably beneficent record? The answer lies in the fact that the lifeline feeding any social system is a culture’s dominant philosophy and that capitalism never had a philosophical base. It was the last and (theoretically) incomplete product of an Aristotelian influence. As a resurgent tide of mysticism engulfed philosophy in the nineteenth century, capitalism was left in an intellectual vacuum, its lifeline cut. Neither its moral nature nor even its political principles had ever been fully understood or defined. Its alleged defenders regarded it as compatible with government controls (i.e., government interference into the economy), ignoring the meaning and implications of the concept of laissez-faire. Thus, what existed in practice, in the nineteenth century, was not pure capitalism, but variously mixed economies. Since controls necessitate and breed further controls, it was the statist element of the mixtures that wrecked them; it was the free, capitalist element that took the blame.”

PhilosophyGovernmentPoliticsSocietyMoralityCapitalismEconomicsAristotle
Book:Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
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“Because in life, knowledge is only part of the battle. WITHOUT ACTION, KNOWLEDGE IS OFTEN MEANINGLESS. As Aristotle put it, to be excellent we cannot simply think or feel excellent, we must act excellently. Yet the action required to follow through on what we know is often the hardest part.”

ActionKnowledgeExcellenceAristotle
Book:The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology that Fuel Success and Performance at Work
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“It’s often the case that brilliant ancient ideas are discarded by science, especially when they have any religious connotations. What ought to be done instead is to repurpose and reformulate these ancient ideas mathematically. So, for example, Aristotle’s Prime Mover can be recast as a Fourier frequency domain at the center of a Fourier spacetime domain. The Prime Mover is immaterial and outside space and time (it’s a Singularity), and controls the material world of spacetime. The latter is an ontological hologram projected by the former.”

PhilosophyScienceReligionOntological MathematicsAristotleScholasticsFourier MathematicsFourier FrequencyPrime MoverFourier Spacetime
Book:God Is Mathematics: The Proofs of the Eternal Existence of Mathematics
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“Düşüncesi neyse insan odur; düşünce sayısı insan sayısından çok daha az olduğu için de, aynı düşünceyi paylaşan insanlar benzerdir. Düşüncenin maddi bir yanı olmadığından, bir düşüncenin adamı etrafında sadece maddi olarak toplanmış insanlar, bu düşünceyi hiçbir şekilde değiştirmezler." (Guermantes Tarafı, s.92) "Düşüncenin, insanların çıkarlarına bir katkısı olamayacağı ve onların avantajlarından da yararlanamayacağı için, aynı düşünceyi paylaşan insanlar, çıkardan etkilenmezler." (a.g.e. s.93)”

InspirationalGeniusAnalyticsAristotle
Book:In Search of Lost Time
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“I sit with Shakespeare and he winces not. Across the color-line I move arm in arm with Balzac and Dumas, where smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls. From out the caves of the evening that swing between the strong-limbed earth and the tracery of the stars, I summon Aristotle and Aurelius... and they come all graciously with no scorn nor condescension. So, wed with Truth, I dwell above the Veil.”

TruthShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareBalzacAristotleVeilAlexandre DumasMarcus AureliusDumasAureliusHonoré De Balzac
Book:The Souls of Black Folk
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“Spitzfindgikeiten des bloßen Begriffs waren die Gestehungkosten für die Entdeckung der Dialektik, Aristotelisch-Hegelsche Teleologie ging der Tendenz, Augustinisches Sabbatreich dem Reich der Freiheit vorauf. Und nicht zuletzt, ganz zuletzt geht die Aristotelische Deckung des δυνάμει ὄν, des In-Möglichkeit-Seins mit der Materie als tragender Materie jeder utopischen Substraterweiterung der Materie vorher; ob auch der Aristotelische Materie-Begriff in großer Philosophie rückwärts wie großen Teils auf vorwärts oft vereinsamt blieb.”

PhilosophyMaterialismIdealismDialecticsPotencyAristotleTendencyHegelian DialecticNew Materialism
Book:Gesamtausgabe der Werke.: Das Materialismusproblem, seine Geschichte und Substanz: Band 7: Das Materialismusproblem, seine Geschichte und Substanz
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“as architect of choosing... choose. to. live. awakened. entirely. wholly. wildly powerful, deeply masterful, authentically creative, thriving. this is not a hoped-for possible self. [reminder: this is an immutable Law of your being] needing not to learn the skill of being whole, the antidote is to unlearn the habit of living incompletely here’s the practice: ‘know thyself‘—its about spirit righteousness is underrated elevate connection with the changeless essence seek similitude with the will of Source and will of self 'choose thyself'—its about substance sacred. sagacious. spacious. in thought, word and deed— intend to: honor virtue. innovate enthusiastically. master integrity. 'become who you are'—its about style a human, being an entrepreneur of life experiences a human, being a purveyor of preferences being-well with the known experience of soul, in service your relationship with insecurities, contradictions, & failures? obstacles or...invitations to grow? [mindset forms manifestation] emotions are messengers are gifts data for discernment: dare to deconstruct them your fears a belief renovation: fear.less. & aspire towards ascendance, anyway support your shine lean into the Light be.come. incandescent as architect of choosing, I choose... to disrupt the energy of the status quo, to eclipse the realms of ordinary, & to live--a life-well lived. w/ spirit, substance & style.”

WholeLightSelf AwarenessWellnessSelf CareWholenessPlatoWellbeingLuminousShineAristotleEudaimoniaLuminaryEudaimon
Author:LaShaun Middlebrooks Collier
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“Nothing has been as instructive in exploring the notion of authenticity as relearning the work of the great philosophers Aristotle and Plato. We are struck by their applicability to our work as we help companies and people develop their brands. Why do these early philosophers have so much to say that is helpful to modern marketers? We believe it is because they were focused on the fundamental issues of authenticity that we all face: Who are we? Why are we? How should we behave? Asking these questions encourages us to deepen our self-awareness. In particular, this issue of “who are we?” is critical. Knowing who we are is the key to elevating our capacities and performance.”

AuthenticityBrandsQuotes About LifePlatoRelevanceAristotleMatter MoreQuotes To Make You ThinkQuotes To InspireGreek Philosophers
Author:Tom Hayes
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“Sometime in the early 1920s, Keynes outlined a book he planned to call “Essays on the Economic Future of the World” (figure 3).101 The chapter titles mostly represent the issues—inequality, agricultural prices, the singular circumstances of the nineteenth century—that occupied him throughout the decade, and whose resolution constituted his various versions of the Liberal platform. Population, the third chapter, was always at the top of his agendas for the next Liberal government. The concluding chapter, however, is the more enigmatic “Education, Eugenics and Φυσει δουλοι.” Keynes took the phrase “Φυσει δουλοι” (phusei douloi), “slaves by nature,” from the first book of Aristotle’s Politics. It is with the qualities of human beings that Aristotle begins: “One that can foresee with his mind is naturally ruler and naturally master, and one that can [work] with his body is subject and naturally a slave.” For Aristotle, an enlightened polity recognizes that these two kinds of people are bound by their mutual interest, and social stability requires that both embrace their natural and symbiotic relationship. Keynes, envisioning a new kind of relationship between state and citizen, had in mind a similar symbiosis, but one in which the eugenic cultivation of talent might reshape rather than harden existing social strata.”

PoliticsQualityQuantityEugenicsKeynesAristotle
Author:David Roth Singerman
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“The late duchess wore around one finger a diamond icicle band, known as a water-stone in Elemental mythology. There is no definite word on where Lady Beatrice procured the water-stone, but legend has it that the stone appears to those who belong to it--those who are Elemental. My studies of Elementalism suggest that wearing the ring is a form of communicating with nature. Aristotle noted long ago that "with the water-stone on your skin and your hands on the land, you will have the answer to all you seek." The water-stone is said to work with the hand of an Elemental to use the four elements to his or her advantage. And seeing as the elements are the truth of our world, so the water-stone reveals the truth.”

AristotleRingRevealing The TruthElemental MagicWaterstone
Book:Suspicion
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“Nobody ever wanted to go to war, but if a war came your way, it might as well be the right war, about the most important things in the world, and you might as well, if you were going to fight it, be called "Rushdie," and stand where your father had placed you, in the tradition of the grand Aristotelian, Averroës, Abul Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd.”

WarReligionHistoryTerrorismMemoirFree SpeechSecularismLiteraryAristotleFatwaAverroësIbn Rushd
Book:Joseph Anton: A Memoir
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