Aristotle Quotes
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The beginning of reform is not so much to equalize property as to train the noble sort of natures not to desire more, and to prevent the lower from getting more.
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Our characters are the result of our conduct.
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Even if we could suppose the citizen body to be virtuous, without each of them being so, yet the latter would be better, for in the virtue of each the virtue of all is involved.
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The moral virtues, then, are produced in us neither by nature nor against nature. Nature, indeed, prepares in us the ground for their reception, but their complete formation is the product of habit.
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Let us be well persuaded that everyone of us possesses happiness in proportion to his virtue and wisdom, and according as he acts in obedience to their suggestion.
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Thus then a single harmony orders the composition of the whole...by the mingling of the most contrary principles.
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The greater the length, the more beautiful will the piece be by reason of its size, provided that the whole be perspicuous.
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In practical matters the end is not mere speculative knowledge of what is to be done, but rather the doing of it. It is not enough to know about Virtue, then, but we must endeavor to possess it, and to use it, or to take any other steps that may make.
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He who has conferred a benefit on anyone from motives of love or honor will feel pain, if he sees that the benefit is received without gratitude.
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It is evident that the state is a creation of nature, and that man is by nature a political animal.
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A body in motion can maintain this motion only if it remains in contact with a mover.
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We must as second best, as people say, take the least of the evils.
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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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The student of politics therefore as well as the psychologist must study the nature of the soul.
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It is evident, then, that there is a sort of education in which parents should train their sons, not as being useful or necessary, but because it is liberal or noble.
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Nature of man is not what he was born as, but what he is born for.
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Why do men seek honour? Surely in order to confirm the favorable opinion they have formed of themselves.
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Cruel is the strife of brothers.
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Whether we will philosophize or we won't philosophize, we must philosophize.
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Those who have the command of the arms in a country are masters of the state, and have it in their power to make what revolutions they please. Thus, there is no end to observations on the difference between the measures likely to be pursued by a minister backed by a standing army, and those of a court awed by the fear of an armed people.
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Great is the good fortune of a state in which the citizens have a moderate and sufficient property.
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Every effort therefore must be made to perpetuate prosperity. And, since that is to the advantage of the rich as well as the poor, all that accrues from the revenues should be collected into a single fund and distributed in block grants to those in need, if possible in lump sums large enough for the acquisition of a small piece of land, but if not, enough to start a business, or work in agriculture. And if that cannot be done for all, the distribution might be by tribes or some other division each in turn.
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A man can make up his mind quickly when he has only a little to make up.
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Some men are just as sure of the truth of their opinions as are others of what they know.