quotestemple logo QuotesTemple

Aristotle Quotes

Excellence is not an act, but a habit

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher during the classical period in Ancient Greece. He is also considered one of the greatest philosophers in history.

Philosopher | Greek

Born: 384 BC in Stagira, Chalcidice

Died: 322 BC in Euboea

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.

Aristotle

Different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life and forms of government.

Aristotle

Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.

Aristotle

Bashfulness is an ornament to youth, but a reproach to old age.

Aristotle
age

Education is the best provision for old age.

Aristotle
age

Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.

Aristotle

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.

Aristotle
art

Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.

Aristotle
art

Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.

Aristotle
art

Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and choice, is thought to aim at some good and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim.

Aristotle
art

Homer has taught all other poets the art of telling lies skillfully.

Aristotle
art

It is Homer who has chiefly taught other poets the art of telling lies skillfully.

Aristotle
art

Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference.

Aristotle

At his best, man is the noblest of all animals separated from law and justice he is the worst.

Aristotle

My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.

Aristotle

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.

Aristotle

The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.

Aristotle

It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken.

Aristotle

The best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.

Aristotle

Education is the best provision for old age.

Aristotle

Those who excel in virtue have the best right of all to rebel, but then they are of all men the least inclined to do so.

Aristotle

It is clearly better that property should be private, but the use of it common and the special business of the legislator is to create in men this benevolent disposition.

Aristotle

Change in all things is sweet.

Aristotle

But if nothing but soul, or in soul mind, is qualified to count, it is impossible for there to be time unless there is soul, but only that of which time is an attribute, i.e. if change can exist without soul.

Aristotle

You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.

Aristotle

Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.

Aristotle

Courage is a mean with regard to fear and confidence.

Aristotle

To run away from trouble is a form of cowardice and, while it is true that the suicide braves death, he does it not for some noble object but to escape some ill.

Aristotle

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

Aristotle

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

Aristotle

Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.

Aristotle

Education is the best provision for old age.

Aristotle

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.

Aristotle

Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.

Aristotle

I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.

Aristotle

Courage is a mean with regard to fear and confidence.

Aristotle

The generality of men are naturally apt to be swayed by fear rather than reverence, and to refrain from evil rather because of the punishment that it brings than because of its own foulness.

Aristotle

Men are swayed more by fear than by reverence.

Aristotle

A friend to all is a friend to none.

Aristotle

Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.

Aristotle

My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.

Aristotle

Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.

Aristotle

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.

Aristotle

He who hath many friends hath none.

Aristotle

Perfect friendship is the friendship of men who are good, and alike in excellence for these wish well alike to each other qua good, and they are good in themselves.

Aristotle

Friendship is essentially a partnership.

Aristotle

Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.

Aristotle
god

He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.

Aristotle
god

Jealousy is both reasonable and belongs to reasonable men, while envy is base and belongs to the base, for the one makes himself get good things by jealousy, while the other does not allow his neighbour to have them through envy.

Aristotle

Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.

Aristotle

Perfect friendship is the friendship of men who are good, and alike in excellence for these wish well alike to each other qua good, and they are good in themselves.

Aristotle

Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and choice, is thought to aim at some good and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim.

Aristotle

He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled.

Aristotle

Therefore, the good of man must be the end of the science of politics.

Aristotle

The state comes into existence for the sake of life and continues to exist for the sake of good life.

Aristotle

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.

Aristotle

Different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life and forms of government.

Aristotle

Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind.

Aristotle

The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently but he is willing, in great crises, to give even his life - knowing that under certain conditions it is not worthwhile to live.

Aristotle

There is no great genius without a mixture of madness.

Aristotle

A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.

Aristotle

Happiness depends upon ourselves.

Aristotle

Politicians also have no leisure, because they are always aiming at something beyond political life itself, power and glory, or happiness.

Aristotle

Different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life and forms of government.

Aristotle

Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.

Aristotle

Hence poetry is something more philosophic and of graver import than history, since its statements are rather of the nature of universals, whereas those of history are singulars.

Aristotle

Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.

Aristotle

Hope is the dream of a waking man.

Aristotle

Hope is a waking dream.

Aristotle

The secret to humor is surprise.

Aristotle

Hope is a waking dream.

Aristotle

Wit is educated insolence.

Aristotle

There is no great genius without a mixture of madness.

Aristotle

Jealousy is both reasonable and belongs to reasonable men, while envy is base and belongs to the base, for the one makes himself get good things by jealousy, while the other does not allow his neighbour to have them through envy.

Aristotle

All men by nature desire knowledge.

Aristotle

The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.

Aristotle

Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.

Aristotle

The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.

Aristotle

In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge. The young they keep out of mischief to the old they are a comfort and aid in their weakness, and those in the prime of life they incite to noble deeds.

Aristotle

The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently but he is willing, in great crises, to give even his life - knowing that under certain conditions it is not worthwhile to live.

Aristotle

The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.

Aristotle

The energy of the mind is the essence of life.

Aristotle

Politicians also have no leisure, because they are always aiming at something beyond political life itself, power and glory, or happiness.

Aristotle

It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken.

Aristotle

Different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life and forms of government.

Aristotle

Men create gods after their own image, not only with regard to their form but with regard to their mode of life.

Aristotle

Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last.

Aristotle

The state comes into existence for the sake of life and continues to exist for the sake of good life.

Aristotle

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.

Aristotle

For though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first.

Aristotle

Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.

Aristotle
men

Jealousy is both reasonable and belongs to reasonable men, while envy is base and belongs to the base, for the one makes himself get good things by jealousy, while the other does not allow his neighbour to have them through envy.

Aristotle
men

All men by nature desire knowledge.

Aristotle
men

Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.

Aristotle
men

Bad men are full of repentance.

Aristotle
men

Perfect friendship is the friendship of men who are good, and alike in excellence for these wish well alike to each other qua good, and they are good in themselves.

Aristotle
men

Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way.

Aristotle
men

Different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life and forms of government.

Aristotle
men

It is clearly better that property should be private, but the use of it common and the special business of the legislator is to create in men this benevolent disposition.

Aristotle
men

Those who excel in virtue have the best right of all to rebel, but then they are of all men the least inclined to do so.

Aristotle
men

Men create gods after their own image, not only with regard to their form but with regard to their mode of life.

Aristotle
men

The generality of men are naturally apt to be swayed by fear rather than reverence, and to refrain from evil rather because of the punishment that it brings than because of its own foulness.

Aristotle
men

Men are swayed more by fear than by reverence.

Aristotle
men

It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.

Aristotle
men

Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.

Aristotle
mom

Quality is not an act, it is a habit.

Aristotle

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.

Aristotle

If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is nature's way.

Aristotle

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire.

Aristotle

All men by nature desire knowledge.

Aristotle

Man is by nature a political animal.

Aristotle

Nature does nothing in vain.

Aristotle

For as the eyes of bats are to the blaze of day, so is the reason in our soul to the things which are by nature most evident of all.

Aristotle

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.

Aristotle

Hence poetry is something more philosophic and of graver import than history, since its statements are rather of the nature of universals, whereas those of history are singulars.

Aristotle

He who can be, and therefore is, another's, and he who participates in reason enough to apprehend, but not to have, is a slave by nature.

Aristotle

We make war that we may live in peace.

Aristotle

Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.

Aristotle

Hence poetry is something more philosophic and of graver import than history, since its statements are rather of the nature of universals, whereas those of history are singulars.

Aristotle

Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.

Aristotle

Politicians also have no leisure, because they are always aiming at something beyond political life itself, power and glory, or happiness.

Aristotle

Therefore, the good of man must be the end of the science of politics.

Aristotle

What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.

Aristotle

Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.

Aristotle

The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.

Aristotle

In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme.

Aristotle

A sense is what has the power of receiving into itself the sensible forms of things without the matter, in the way in which a piece of wax takes on the impress of a signet-ring without the iron or gold.

Aristotle

Politicians also have no leisure, because they are always aiming at something beyond political life itself, power and glory, or happiness.

Aristotle

The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.

Aristotle

A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side.

Aristotle

Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.

Aristotle

Therefore, the good of man must be the end of the science of politics.

Aristotle

He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.

Aristotle

The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.

Aristotle

Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.

Aristotle

We praise a man who feels angry on the right grounds and against the right persons and also in the right manner at the right moment and for the right length of time.

Aristotle

For one swallow does not make a summer, nor does one day and so too one day, or a short time, does not make a man blessed and happy.

Aristotle

But if nothing but soul, or in soul mind, is qualified to count, it is impossible for there to be time unless there is soul, but only that of which time is an attribute, i.e. if change can exist without soul.

Aristotle

Whether if soul did not exist time would exist or not, is a question that may fairly be asked for if there cannot be someone to count there cannot be anything that can be counted, so that evidently there cannot be number for number is either what has been, or what can be, counted.

Aristotle

Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth.

Aristotle

For though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first.

Aristotle

The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.

Aristotle

Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.

Aristotle

We make war that we may live in peace.

Aristotle
war

Excellence, then, is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean, relative to us, this being determined by reason and in the way in which the man of practical wisdom would determine it.

Aristotle

The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.

Aristotle

Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.

Aristotle

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.

Aristotle

Readers Also Loved Quotes From