Aristotle Quotes
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If the art of ship-building were in the wood, ships would exist by nature.
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If a man of good natural disposition acquires Intelligence, then he excels in conduct, and the disposition which previously only resembled Virtue, will now be Virtue in the true sense. Hence just as with the faculty of forming opinions there are two qualities, Cleverness and Prudence, so also in the moral part of the soul there are two qualities, natural virtue and true Virtue; and true Virtue cannot exist without Prudence.
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The more you know, the more you know you don't know.
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Equality consists in the same treatment of similar persons.
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All three states - the Lacedaemonian, the Cretan, and the Carthaginian - nearly resemble one another, and are very different from any others. Many of the Carthaginian institutions are excellent. The superiority of their constitution is proved by the fact that the common people remains loyal to the constitution; the Carthaginians have never had any rebellion worth speaking of, and have never been under the rule of a tyrant.
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The soul suffers when the body is diseased or traumatized, while the body suffers when the soul is ailing.
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Phronimos, possessing practical wisdom . But the only virtue special to a ruler is practical wisdom; all the others must be possessed, so it seems, both by rulers and ruled. The virtue of a person being ruled is not practical wisdom but correct opinion; he is rather like a person who makes the pipes, while the ruler is the one who can play them.
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Our characters are the result of our conduct.
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In the Laws it is maintained that the best constitution is made up of democracy and tyranny, which are either not constitutions at all, or are the worst of all. But they are nearer the truth who combine many forms; for the constitution is better which is made up of more numerous elements. The constitution proposed in the Laws has no element of monarchy at all; it is nothing but oligarchy and democracy, leaning rather to oligarchy.
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No democracy can exist unless each of its citizens is as capable of outrage at injustice to another as he is of outrage at unjustice to himself.
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Demonstration is also something necessary, because a demonstration cannot go otherwise than it does, ... And the cause of this lies with the primary premises,principles.
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Nowadays, for the sake of the advantage which is to be gained from the public revenues and from office, men want to be always in office.
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... There must then be a principle of such a kind that its substance is activity.
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If happiness is activity in accordance with excellence, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest excellence.
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For we do not think that we know a thing until we are acquainted with its primary conditions or first principles, and have carried our analysis as far as its simplest elements.
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I say that habit's but a long practice, friend, and this becomes men's nature in the end.
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Neither old people nor sour people seem to make friends easily; for there is little that is pleasant in them.
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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.
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A young man is not a proper hearer of lectures on political science; for he is inexperienced in the actions that occur in life, but its discussions start from these and are about these; and, further, since he tends to follow his passions, his study will be vain and unprofitable, because the end that is aimed at is not knowledge but action. And it makes no difference whether he is young in years or youthful in character.
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Temperance and bravery, then, are ruined by excess and deficiency, but preserved by the mean.
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I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.
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The End is included among goods of the soul, and not among external goods.
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The line has magnitude in one way, the plane in two ways, and the solid in three ways, and beyond these there is no other magnitude because the three are all.
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Virtue is more clearly shown in the performance of fine ACTIONS than in the non-performance of base ones.