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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. By Aristotle. Excellence Choice Lying Relative State

He is best of all who of himself conceiveth all things; Good again is he too who can adopt a good suggestion; But whoso neither of himself conceiveth nor hearing from another Layeth it to heart; - he is a useless man. [Sidenote: V] But to return from this digression. Now of the Chief Good (i.e. of Happiness) men seem to form their notions from the different modes of life, as we might naturally expect: the many and most low conceive it to be pleasure, and hence they are content with the life of sensual enjoyment. For there are three lines of life which stand out prominently to view: that just mentioned, and the life in society, and, thirdly, the life of contemplation. By Aristotle. Conceiveth Life Layeth Good Things

For the carpenter's and the geometer's inquiries about the right angle are different also; the carpenter restricts himself to what helps his work, but the geometer inquires into what, or what sort of things, the right angle is, since he studies the truth. We must do the same, then in other areas too, [seeking the proper degree of exactness], so that digressions do not overwhelm our main task. By Aristotle. Carpenter Geometer Angle Work Things

Happiness itself is sufficient excuse. Beautiful things are right and true; so beautiful actions are those pleasing to the gods. Wise men have an inward sense of what is beautiful, and the highest wisdom is to trust this intuition and be guided by it. The answer to the last appeal of what is right lies within a man's own breast. Trust thyself. By Aristotle. Happiness Excuse Beautiful Sufficient Trust

Means of succeeding in the object we set before us. We must make as it were a fresh start, and before going further define what rhetoric is. Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion. This is not a function of any other art. Every other art can instruct or persuade about its own particular subject-matter; for instance, medicine about what is healthy and unhealthy, geometry about the properties of magnitudes, arithmetic about numbers, and the same is true of the other arts and sciences. But rhetoric we look upon as the power of observing the means of persuasion on almost any subject presented to us; By Aristotle. Rhetoric Succeeding Object Set Art

Property should be in a certain sense common, but, as a general rule, private; for, when every one has a distinct interest, men will not complain of one another, and they will make more progress, because every one will be attending to his own business. By Aristotle. Private Property Common Rule Interest

What is evil neither can nor should be loved; for it is not one's duty to be a lover of evil or to become like what is bad; and we have said that like is dear to like. Must the friendship, then, be forthwith broken off? Or is this not so in all cases, but only when one's friends are incurable in their wickedness? If they are capable of being reformed one should rather come to the assistance of their character or their property, inasmuch as this is better and more characteristic of friendship. But a man who breaks off such a friendship would seem to be doing nothing strange; for it was not to a man of this sort that he was a friend; when his friend changed, therefore, and he is unable to save him, he gives him up. By Aristotle. Evil Loved Bad Friendship Duty

It is therefore not of small moment whether we are trained from adulthood in one set of habits or another; on the contrary it is of very great, or rather supreme importance. By Aristotle. Great Importance Small Moment Trained

In making a speech one must study three points: first, the means of producing persuasion; second, the language; third the proper arrangement of the various parts of the speech. By Aristotle. Speech Points Persuasion Language Making

A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself ... with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions. By Aristotle. Magnitude Complete Fear Wherewith Emotions

What is the highest good in all matters of action? To the name, there is almost complete agreement; for uneducated and educated alike call it happiness, and make happiness identical with the good life and successful living. They disagree, however, about the meaning of happiness. By Aristotle. Action Good Happiness Highest Matters

Happiness above all seems to be of this character, for we always choose it on account of itself and never on account of something else. Yet honor, pleasure, intellect, and every virtue we choose on their own account - for even if nothing resulted from them, we would choose each of them - but we choose them also for the sake of happiness, because we suppose that, through them, we will be happy. By Aristotle. Account Choose Character Happiness Pleasure

We have divided the Virtues of the Soul into two groups, the Virtues of the Character and the Virtues of the Intellect. By Aristotle. Virtues Intellect Soul Character Groups

Most men appear to think that the art of despotic government is statesmanship, and what men affirm to be unjust and inexpedient in their own case they are not ashamed of practicing towards others; they demand just rule for themselves, but where other men are concerned they care nothing about it. Such behavior is irrational; unless the one party is, and the other is not, born to serve, in which case men have a right to command, not indeed all their fellows, but only those who are intended to be subjects; just as we ought not to hunt mankind, whether for food or sacrifice . By Aristotle. Men Statesmanship Case Art Despotic

To know what virtue is is not enough; we must endeavor to possess and to practice it, or in some other manner actually ourselves to become good. By Aristotle. Good Virtue Endeavor Possess Practice

Thus it is thought that justice is equality; and so it is, but not for all persons, only for those that are equal. Inequality also is thought to be just; and so it is, but not for all, only for the unequal. We make bad mistakes if we neglect this for whom when we are deciding what is just. The reason is that we are making judgements about ourselves, and people are generally bad judges where their own interests are involved. By Aristotle. Thought Equality Persons Equal Justice

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. By Aristotle. Constitution Laws Relative State Body

When ... we, as individuals, obey laws that direct us to behave for the welfare of the community as a whole, we are indirectly helping to promote the pursuit of happiness by our fellow human beings. By Aristotle. Individuals Obey Laws Direct Behave

Avoid the enthymeme form when you are trying to rouse feeling; for it will either kill the feeling or will itself fall flat: all simultaneous motions tend to cancel each other either completely or partially. By Aristotle. Avoid Flat Partially Feeling Enthymeme

Error is multiform (for evil is a form of the unlimited, as in the old Pythagorean imagery, and good of the limited), whereas success is possible in one way only (which is why it is easy to fail and difficult to succeed - easy to miss the target and difficult to hit it); so this is another reason why excess and deficiency are a mark of vice, and observance of the mean a mark of virtue: Goodness is simple, badness is manifold. By Aristotle. Difficult Mark Easy Goodness Pythagorean

Madness is badness of spirit, when one seeks profit from all sources. By Aristotle. Madness Spirit Sources Badness Seeks

[Meanness] is more ingrained in man's nature than Prodigality; the mass of mankind are avaricious rather than open-handed. By Aristotle. Meanness Prodigality Openhanded Ingrained Man

Even if you must have regard to wealth, in order to secure leisure, yet it is surely a bad thing that the greatest offices, such as those of kings and generals, should be bought. The law which allows this abuse makes wealth of more account than virtue, and the whole state becomes avaricious. By Aristotle. Leisure Offices Generals Bought Wealth

In revolutions the occasions may be trifling but great interest are at stake. By Aristotle. Stake Revolutions Occasions Trifling Great

It belongs to small-mindedness to be unable to bear either honor or dishonor, either good fortune or bad, but to be filled with conceit when honored and puffed up by trifling good fortune, and to be unable to bear even the smallest dishonor and to deem any chance failure a great misfortune, and to be distressed and annonyed at everything. Moreover the small-minded man is the sort of person to call all slights an insult and dishonor, even those that are due to ignorance or forgetfulness. Small-mindedness is accompanied by pettiness, querulousness, pessimism and self-abasement. By Aristotle. Unable Bear Good Fortune Dishonor

No one loves the man whom he fears. By Aristotle. Fears Loves Man

If happiness, then, is activity expressing virtue, it is reasonable for it to express the supreme virtue, which will be the virtueof the best thing. By Aristotle. Virtue Happiness Thing Activity Expressing

What is common to many is least taken care of, for all men have greater regard for what is their own than what they possess in common with others. By Aristotle. Common Care Men Greater Regard

Now if there is any gift of the gods to men, it is reasonable that happiness should be god-given, and most surely god-given of all human things inasmuch as it is the best. But this question would perhaps be more appropriate to another inquiry; happiness seems, however, even if it is not god-sent but comes as a result of virtue and some process of learning and training, to be among the most god-like things; for that which is the prize and end of virtue seems to be the best thing in the world, and something god-like and blessed. By Aristotle. Godgiven Men Happiness Things Gift

In a practical syllogism, the major premise is an opinion, while the minor premise deals with particular things, which are the province of perception. Now when the two premises are combined, just as in theoretic reasoning the mind is compelled to affirm the resulting conclusion, so in the case of practical premises you are forced at once to do it. By Aristotle. Practical Syllogism Opinion Things Perception

Adoration is made out of a solitary soul occupying two bodies. By Aristotle. Adoration Bodies Made Solitary Soul

Those who merely possess the goods of fortune may be haughty and insolent; ... they try to imitate the great-souled man without being really like him, and only copy him in what they can, reproducing his contempt for others but not his virtuous conduct. For the great-souled man is justified in despising other people - his estimates are correct; but most proud men have no good ground for their pride. By Aristotle. Insolent Greatsouled Possess Fortune Haughty

Some kinds of animals burrow in the ground; others do not. Some animals are nocturnal, as the owl and the bat; others use the hours of daylight. There are tame animals and wild animals. Man and the mule are always tame; the leopard and the wolf are invariably wild, and others, as the elephant, are easily tamed. By Aristotle. Animals Ground Kinds Burrow Tame

Thus, since time immemorial, it has been customary to accept the criticism of art from a man who may or may not have been artist himself. Some believe that artist should create its art and leave it for critic to pass judgement over it. Whereas dramatists like Ben Jonson is of the view that to 'judge of poets is only the faculty of poets; and not of all poets, but the best'. Only the best of poets have the right to pass judgments on the merit or defects of poetry, for they alone have experienced the creative process form beginning to end, and they alone can rightly understand it. By Aristotle. Poets Art Artist Immemorial Time

We are masters of our actions from the beginning up to the very end. But, in the case of our habits, we are only masters of their commencementeach particular little increase being as imperceptible as in the case of bodily infirmities. But yet our habits are voluntary, in that it was once in our power to adopt or not to adopt such or such a course of conduct. By Aristotle. Masters End Case Actions Beginning

To die in order to avoid the pains of poverty, love, or anything that is disagreeable, is not the part of a brave man, but of a coward. By Aristotle. Love Poverty Disagreeable Man Coward

To die, and thus avoid poverty or love, or anything painful, is not the part of a brave man, but rather of a coward; for it is cowardice to avoid trouble, and the suicide does not undergo death because it is honorable, but in order to avoid evil. By Aristotle. Avoid Die Love Painful Man

Distance does not break off the friendship absolutely, but only the activity of it. By Aristotle. Distance Absolutely Break Friendship Activity

And inasmuch as the great-souled man deserves most, he must be the best of men; for the better a man is the more he deserves, and he that is best deserves most. Therefore the truly great-souled man must be a good man. Indeed greatness in each of the virtues would seem to go with greatness of soul. By Aristotle. Deserves Man Greatsouled Men Greatness

To be always seeking after the useful does not become free and exalted souls. By Aristotle. Souls Seeking Free Exalted

Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit. By Aristotle. Wishing Work Fruit Friends Quick

It is well said, then, that it is by doing just acts that the just man is produced, and by doing temperate acts the temperate man; without doing these no one would have even a prospect of becoming good. By Aristotle. Produced Good Acts Man Temperate

even if we possessed the most accurate scientific knowledge, we should not find it easy to persuade them by the employment of such knowledge. For scientific discourse is concerned with instruction, but in the case of such persons instruction is impossible; our proofs and arguments must rest on generally accepted principles, as we said in the Topics, when speaking of converse with the multitude. By Aristotle. Knowledge Scientific Possessed Accurate Find

In cases of this sort, let us say adultery, rightness and wrongness do not depend on committing it with the right woman at the right time and in the right manner, but the mere fact of committing such action at all is to do wrong. By Aristotle. Committing Sort Adultery Rightness Manner

There is no such thing as committing adultery with the right woman, at the right time, and in the right way, for it is simply WRONG. By Aristotle. Wrong Woman Time Thing Committing

Such [communistic] legislation may have a specious appearance of benevolence; men readily listen to it, and are easily induced to believe that in some wonderful manner everybody will become everybody's friend, especially when some one is heard denouncing the evils now existing in states, suits about contracts, convictions for perjury, flatteries of rich men and the like, which are said to arise out of the possession of private property. These evils, however, are due to a very different cause - the wickedness of human nature. Indeed, we see that there is much more quarrelling among those who have all things in common, though there are not many of them when compared with the vast numbers who have private property. By Aristotle. Men Communistic Property Legislation Benevolence

Injustice results as much from treating unequals equally as from treating equals unequally. By Aristotle. Treating Injustice Unequally Results Unequals

For the laughable is a sort of error and ugliness that is not painful and destructive, just as, evidently, a laughable mask is something ugly and distorted without pain. By Aristotle. Evidently Laughable Destructive Pain Sort

The laughable is a species of what is disgraceful. By Aristotle. Disgraceful Laughable Species

For legislators make the citizens good by forming habits in them, and this is the wish of every legislator, and those who do not effect it miss their mark, and it is in this that a good constitution differs from a bad one. By Aristotle. Good Mark Make Citizens Forming

We ought not to listen to those who exhort us, because we are human, to think of human things ... We ought rather to take on immortality as much as possible, and do all that we can to live in accordance with the highest element within us; for even if its bulk is small, in its power and value it far exceeds everything. By Aristotle. Human Things Listen Exhort Small

Definition of tragedy: A hero destroyed by the excess of his virtues By Aristotle. Definition Tragedy Virtues Hero Destroyed

That in the soul which is called mind (by mind I mean that whereby the soul thinks and judges) is, before it thinks, not actually any real thing. For this reason it cannot reasonably be regarded as blended with the body By Aristotle. Soul Mind Judges Thing Called

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. By Aristotle. True Refuge Life Poverty Misfortunes

A state is an association of similar persons whose aim is the best life possible. What is best is happiness, and to be happy is an active exercise of virtue and a complete employment of it. By Aristotle. State Association Similar Persons Aim

Happiness is something final and complete in itself, as being the aim and end of all practical activities whatever ... Happiness then we define as the active exercise of the mind in conformity with perfect goodness or virtue. By Aristotle. Happiness Final Complete Aim End

A life of wealth and many belongings is only a means to happiness. Honor, power, and success cannot be happiness because they depend on the whims of others, and happiness should be self-contained, complete in itself. By Aristotle. Happiness Life Wealth Belongings Honor

Happiness is an activity and a complete utilization of virtue, not conditionally but absolutely. By Aristotle. Happiness Virtue Absolutely Activity Complete

It is the activity of the intellect that constitutes complete human happiness - provided it be granted a complete span of life, for nothing that belongs to happiness can be incomplete. By Aristotle. Provided Life Incomplete Complete Happiness

Happiness requires both complete goodness and a complete lifetime. By Aristotle. Happiness Lifetime Complete Requires Goodness

Just as a royal rule, if not a mere name, must exist by virtue of some great personal superiority in the king, so tyranny, which is the worst of governments, is necessarily the farthest removed from a well-constituted form; oligarchy is little better, for it is a long way from aristocracy, and democracy is the most tolerable of the three. By Aristotle. Rule King Tyranny Governments Form

For tyranny is a kind of monarchy which has in view the interest of the monarch only; oligarchy has in view the interest of the wealthy; democracy of the needy: none of them common good of all. By Aristotle. View Interest Oligarchy Wealthy Democracy

The right constitutions, three in number- kingship, aristocracy, and polity- and the deviations from these, likewise three in number - tyranny from kingship, oligarchy from aristocracy, democracy from polity. By Aristotle. Number Kingship Aristocracy Polity Constitutions

The peculiar circumstances arising out of the fall of the Syracusan tyranny seem to have produced the first practitioners of the art of rhetorical By Aristotle. Syracusan Rhetorical Peculiar Circumstances Arising

Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms. By Aristotle. People Arms Oligarch Tyrant Mistrust

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. By Aristotle. Laws Constitution Made Tyranny Maintained

The perversions are as follows: of royalty, tyranny; of aristocracy, oligarchy; of constitutional government, democracy. By Aristotle. Tyranny Oligarchy Democracy Royalty Aristocracy

Men do not become tyrants in order that they may not suffer cold. By Aristotle. Men Cold Tyrants Order Suffer

It is not easy for a person to do any great harm when his tenure of office is short, whereas long possession begets tyranny. By Aristotle. Short Tyranny Easy Person Great

These, then, are the four kinds of royalty. First the monarchy of the heroic ages; this was exercised over voluntary subjects, but limited to certain functions; the king was a general and a judge, and had the control of religion The second is that of the barbarians, which is a hereditary despotic government in accordance with law. A third is the power of the so-called Aesynmete or Dictator; this is an elective tyranny. The fourth is the Lacedaemonian, which is in fact a generalship, hereditary and perpetual. By Aristotle. Royalty Kinds Hereditary Dictator Aesynmete

Masculine republics give way to feminine democracies, and feminine democracies give way to tyranny. By Aristotle. Give Feminine Democracies Masculine Tyranny

Some persons hold that, while it is proper for the lawgiver to encourage and exhort men to virtue on moral grounds, in the expectation that those who have had a virtuous moral upbringing will respond, yet he is bound to impose chastisement and penalties on the disobedient and ill-conditioned, and to banish the incorrigible out of the state altogether. For (they argue) although the virtuous man, who guides his life by moral ideals, will be obedient to reason, the base, whose desires are fixed on pleasure, must be chastised by pain, like a beast of burden. By Aristotle. Moral Grounds Respond Illconditioned Altogether

Even the best of men in authority are liable to be corrupted by passion. We may conclude then that the law is reason without passion, and it is therefore preferable to any individual. By Aristotle. Passion Men Authority Liable Corrupted

For he who lives as passion directs will not hear argument that dissuades him, nor understand it if he does; and how can we persuade one in such a state to change his ways? By Aristotle. Lives Passion Directs Hear Argument

Now he who exercises his reason and cultivatesit seems to be both in the best state of mind and most dear to thegods. For if the gods have any care for human affairs, as they arethought to have, it would be reasonable both that they should delightin that which was best and most akin to them (i.e. reason) and thatthey should reward those who love and honour this most, as caringfor the things that are dear to them and acting both rightly and nobly.And that all these attributes belong most of all to the philosopheris manifest. He, therefore, is the dearest to the gods. And he whois that will presumably be also the happiest; so that in this waytoo the philosopher will more than any other be happy. By Aristotle. Dear Reason Thegods Exercises Cultivatesit

Some vices miss what is right because they are deficient, others because they are excessive, in feelings or in actions, while virtue finds and chooses the mean. By Aristotle. Deficient Excessive Actions Vices Miss

One can aim at honor both as one ought, and more than one ought, and less than one ought. He whose craving for honor is excessive is said to be ambitious, and he who is deficient in this respect unambitious; while he who observes the mean has no peculiar name. By Aristotle. Honor Aim Ambitious Unambitious Craving

Happiness, whether consisting in pleasure or virtue, or both, is more often found with those who are highly cultivated in their minds and in their character, and have only a moderate share of external goods, than among those who possess external goods to a useless extent but are deficient in higher qualities. By Aristotle. Happiness External Goods Virtue Character

The poet, being an imitator like a painter or any other artist, must of necessity imitate one of three objects - things as they were or are, things as they are said or thought to be, or things as they ought to be. The vehicle of expression is language - either current terms or, it may be, rare words or metaphors. By Aristotle. Things Poet Artist Objects Imitator

Anyone can get angry, but to do this to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive, and in the right way, that is not for everyone, nor is it easy. By Aristotle. Angry Person Extent Time Motive

If then, as we say, good craftsmen look to the mean as they work, and if virtue, like nature, is more accurate and better than any form of art, it will follow that virtue has the quality of hitting the mean. I refer to moral virtue [not intellectual], for this is concerned with emotions and actions, in which one can have excess or deficiency or a due mean. By Aristotle. Good Work Nature Art Virtue

"I was not alone when I was in Goofy hell" By Aristotle. Goofy Hell

If they do not share equally enjoyments and toils, those who labor much and get little will necessarily complain of those who labor little and receive or consume much. But indeed there is always a difficulty in men living together and having all human relations in common, but especially in their having common property. By Aristotle. Labor Toils Share Equally Enjoyments

The art of wealth-getting which consists in household management, on the one hand, has a limit; the unlimited acquisition of wealth is not its business. And therefore, in one point of view, all riches must have a limit; nevertheless, as a matter of fact, we find the opposite to be the case; for all getters of wealth increase their hard coin without limit. By Aristotle. Limit Wealth Management Hand Business

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. By Aristotle. Prosperity Effort Made Perpetuate Poor

Take the case of just actions; just punishments and chastisements do indeed spring from a good principle, but they are good only because we cannot do without them - it would be better that neither individuals nor states should need anything of the sort - but actions which aim at honor and advantage are absolutely the best. The conditional action is only the choice of a lesser evil; whereas these are the foundation and creation of good. A good man may make the best even of poverty and disease, and the other ills of life; By Aristotle. Good Actions Principle Sort Case

These are the three things - volume of sound, modulation of pitch, and rhythm - that a speaker bears in mind. It is those who do bear them in mind who usually win prizes in the dramatic contests; and just as in drama the actors now count for more than the poets, so it is in the contests of public life, owing to the defects of our political institutions. By Aristotle. Mind Things Volume Sound Modulation

Just as at the Olympic games it is not the handsomest or strongest men who are crowned with victory but the successful competitors, so in life it is those who act rightly who carry off all the prizes and rewards. By Aristotle. Olympic Competitors Rewards Games Handsomest

So it is naturally with the male and the female; the one is superior, the other inferior; the one governs, the other is governed; and the same rule must necessarily hold good with respect to all mankind. By Aristotle. Female Superior Inferior Governs Governed

Special care should be taken of the health of the inhabitants, which will depend chiefly on the healthiness of the locality and of the quarter to which they are exposed, and secondly on the use of pure water; this latter point is by no means a secondary consideration. For the elements which we use the most and oftenest for the support of the body contribute most to health, and among those are water and air. Wherefore, in all wise states, if there is want of pure water, and the supply is not all equally good, the drinking water ought to be separated from that which is used for other purposes. By Aristotle. Water Health Pure Special Inhabitants

What has soul in it differs from what has not, in that the former displays life. Now this word has more than one sense, and provided any one alone of these is found in a thing we say that thing is living. Living, that is, may mean thinking or perception or local movement and rest, or movement in the sense of nutrition, decay and growth. Hence we think of plants also as living, for they are observed to possess in themselves an originative power through which they increase or decrease in all spatial directions; By Aristotle. Living Life Soul Differs Displays

The first essential responsibility of the state is control of the market-place: there must be some official charged with the duty of seeing that honest dealing and good order prevail. For one of the well-nigh essential activities of all states is the buying and selling of goods to meet their mutual basic needs; this is the quickest way to self-sufficiency, which seems to be what moves men to combine under a single constitution. By Aristotle. Marketplace Prevail Essential Responsibility Control

The same thing may have all the kinds of causes, e.g. the moving cause of a house is the art or the builder, the final cause is the function it fulfils, the matter is earth and stones, and the form is the definitory formula. By Aristotle. Builder Fulfils Stones Formula Thing

My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake. By Aristotle. Sake Friend Man Wishing Wishes

Man's best friend is one who wishes well to the object of his wish for his sake, even if no one is to know of it. By Aristotle. Man Sake Friend Wishes Object

But a man's best friend is the one who not only wishes him well but wishes it for his own sake (even though nobody will ever know it): and this condition is best fulfilled by his attitude towards himself - and similarly with all the other attributes that go to define a friend. For we have said before that all friendly feelings for others are extensions of a man's feelings for himself. By Aristotle. Friend Wishes Sake Man Condition

The man with a host of friends who slaps on the back everybody he meets is regarded as the friend of nobody. By Aristotle. Man Host Slaps Back Meets

The principles in question must be either (a) one or (b) more than one. (15) If (a) one, it must be either (i) motionless, as Parmenides and Melissus assert, or (ii) in motion, as the physicists hold, some declaring air to be the first principle, others water. If (b) more than one, then either (i) a finite or (ii) an infinite plurality. If (i) finite (but more than one), then either two or three or four or some other number. (20) If (ii) infinite, then either as Democritus believed one in kind, but differing in shape or form; or different in kind and even contrary. By Aristotle. Question Parmenides Melissus Finite Infinite

Being cannot be one in form, though it may be in what it is made of. (Even some of the physicists hold it to be one in the latter way, though not in the former.) Man obviously differs from horse in form, and contraries from each other. By Aristotle. Form Made Physicists Hold Man

The appropriate age for marrige is around eighteen and thirty-seven for man By Aristotle. Man Age Marrige Eighteen Thirtyseven

Since the branch of philosophy on which we are at present engaged differs from the others in not being a subject of merely intellectual interest - I mean we are not concerned to know what goodness essentially is, but how we are to become good men, for this alone gives the study its practical value - we must apply our minds to the solution of the problems of conduct. By Aristotle. Interest Men Conduct Branch Philosophy

Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. The first kind depends on the personal character ofthe speaker; the second on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind; the third on the proof, provided by the words of the speech itself. By Aristotle. Modes Persuasion Furnished Spoken Word

The maxim, as has been already said, is a general statement, and people love to hear stated in general terms what they already believe in some particular connexion: e.g. if a man happens to have bad neighbors or bad children, he will agree with any one who tells him 'Nothing is more annoying than having neighbors,' or, 'Nothing is more foolish than to be the parent of children.' The orator has therefore to guess the subjects on which his hearers really hold views already, and what those views are, and then must express, as general truths, these same views on these same subjects. This is one advantage of using maxims. By Aristotle. Children Bad Neighbors General Statement

The man who shuns and fears everything and stands up to nothing becomes a coward; the man who is afraid of nothing at all, but marches up to every danger becomes foolhardy. Similarly the man who indulges in pleasure and refrains from none becomes licentious (akolastos); but if a man behaves like a boor (agroikos) and turns his back on every pleasure, he is a case of insensibility. Thus temperance and courage are destroyed by excess and deficiency and preserved by the mean. By Aristotle. Man Coward Foolhardy Shuns Fears

For even they who compose treatises of medicine or natural philosophy in verse are denominated Poets: yet Homer and Empedocles have nothing in common except their metre; the former, therefore, justly merits the name of the Poet; while the other should rather be called a Physiologist than a Poet. By Aristotle. Poet Poets Homer Empedocles Physiologist

At first he who invented any art that went beyond the common perceptions of man was naturally admired by men, not only because there was something useful in the inventions, but because he was thought wise and superior to the rest. But as more arts were invented, and some were directed to the necessities of life, others to its recreation, the inventors of the latter were always regarded as wiser than the inventors of the former, because their branches of knowledge did not aim at utility. By Aristotle. Invented Men Inventions Rest Inventors

A man's happiness consists in the free exercise of his highest faculties. By Aristotle. Faculties Man Happiness Consists Free

He is happy who lives in accordance with complete virtue and is sufficiently equipped with external goods, not for some chance period but throughout a complete life. By Aristotle. Goods Life Complete Happy Lives

Some things the legislator must find ready to his hand in a state, others he must provide. And therefore we can only say: May our state be constituted in such a manner as to be blessed with the goods of which fortune disposes (for we acknowledge her power): whereas virtue and goodness in the state are not a matter of chance but the result of knowledge and purpose. A city can be virtuous only when the citizens who have a share in the government are virtuous, and in our state all the citizens share in the government; By Aristotle. State Provide Things Legislator Find

Again, Practical Wisdom and Excellence of the Moral character are very closely united; since the Principles of Practical Wisdom are in accordance with the Moral Virtues and these are right when they accord with Practical Wisdom. By Aristotle. Practical Wisdom Moral Excellence Principles

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. By Aristotle. Demonstration Principles Premises Lies Primary

The entire preoccupation of the physicist is with things that contain within themselves a principle of movement and rest. By Aristotle. Rest Entire Preoccupation Physicist Things

It is clear, then, that wisdom is knowledge having to do with certain principles and causes. But now, since it is this knowledge that we are seeking, we must consider the following point: of what kind of principles and of what kind of causes is wisdom the knowledge? By Aristotle. Knowledge Principles Clear Wisdom Kind

There must then be a principle of such a kind that its substance is activity. By Aristotle. Activity Principle Kind Substance

There is nothing grand or noble in having the use of a slave, in so far as he is a slave; or in issuing commands about necessary things. But it is an error to suppose that every sort of rule is despotic like that of a master over slaves, for there is as great a difference between the rule over freemen and the rule over slaves as there is between slavery by nature and freedom by nature . By Aristotle. Rule Things Slave Slaves Grand

The principle aim of gymnastics is the education of all youth and not simply that minority of people highly favored by nature. By Aristotle. Nature Principle Aim Gymnastics Education

Men must be able to engage in business and go to war, but leisure and peace are better; they must do what is necessary and indeed what is useful, but what is honorable is better. On such principles children and persons of every age which requires education should be trained. By Aristotle. Men War Engage Business Leisure

Nature herself, as has been often said, requires that we should be able, not only to work well, but to use leisure well; for, as I must repeat once again, the first principle of all action is leisure. Both are required, but leisure is better than occupation and is its end. By Aristotle. Nature Requires Leisure Work Repeat

It has been well said that 'he who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.' The two are not the same, but the good citizen ought to be capable of both; he should know how to govern like a freeman, and how to obey like a freeman - these are the virtues of a citizen. By Aristotle. Freeman Commander Obey Good Learned

Now the soul of man is divided into two parts, one of which has a rational principle in itself, and the other, not having a rational principle in itself, is able to obey such a principle. And we call a man in any way good because he has the virtues of these two parts. By Aristotle. Principle Rational Parts Man Soul

Even a woman may be good, and also a slave; though the woman may be said to be an inferior being, and the slave quite worthless. By Aristotle. Woman Good Worthless Slave Inferior

Of ill-temper there are three kinds: irascibility, bitterness, sullenness. It belongs to the ill-tempered man to be unable to bear either small slights or defeats but to be given to retaliation and revenge, and easily moved to anger by any chance deed or word. Ill-temper is accompanied by excitability of character, instability, bitter speech, and liability to take offence at trifles and to feel these feelings quickly and on slight occasions. By Aristotle. Irascibility Bitterness Sullenness Kinds Illtemper

Hence, (25) since every finite body is exhausted by the repeated abstraction of a finite body, it seems obviously to follow that everything cannot subsist in everything else. For let flesh be extracted from water and again more flesh be produced from the remainder by repeating the process of separation: then, even though the quantity separated out will continually decrease, still it will not fall below a certain magnitude. If, (30) therefore, the process comes to an end, everything will not be in everything else (for there will be no flesh in the remaining water); if on the other hand it does not, and further extraction is always possible, there will be an infinite multitude of finite equal particles in a finite quantity - which is impossible. By Aristotle. Body Finite Flesh Exhausted Repeated

How strange it is that Socrates, after having made the children common, should hinder lovers from carnal intercourse only, but should permit love and familiarities between father and son or between brother and brother, than which nothing can be more unseemly, since even without them love of this sort is improper. How strange, too, to forbid intercourse for no other reason than the violence of the pleasure, as though the relationship of father and son or of brothers with one another made no difference. By Aristotle. Socrates Love Son Common Unseemly

Equality consists in the same treatment of similar persons. By Aristotle. Equality Persons Consists Treatment Similar

There is nothing unequal as the equal treatment of unequals. By Aristotle. Equal Treatment Unequal Unequals

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. Plainly therefore in the science of Nature, (15) as in other branches of study, our first task will be to try to determine what relates to its principles. By Aristotle. Principles Elements Thing Acquainted Primary

But such a life will be higher than mere human nature, because a manwill live thus, not in so far as he is man but in so far as there is inhim a divine Principle: and in proportion as this Principle excelshis composite nature so far does the Working thereof excel that inaccordance with any other kind of Excellence: and therefore, if pureIntellect, as compared with human nature, is divine, so too will thelife in accordance with it be divine compared with man's ordinary life.[Sidenote: 1178a] Yet must we not give ear to those who bid one as manto mind only man's affairs, or as mortal only mortal things; but, so faras we can, make ourselves like immortals and do all with a view toliving in accordance with the highest Principle in us, for small as itmay be in bulk yet in power and preciousness it far more excels all theothers. By Aristotle. Principle Nature Accordance Man Divine

People become house builders through building houses, harp players through playing the harp. We grow to be just by doing things which are just. By Aristotle. People Harp Builders Building Players

Whatever we learn to do, we learn by actually doing it; men come to be builders, for instance, by building, and harp players by playing the harp. In the same way, by doing just acts we come to be just; by doing self-controlled acts, we come to be self-controlled ; and by doing brave acts, we become brave. By Aristotle. Learn Harp Men Builders Instance

Persuasion is achieved by the speaker's personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible. We believe good men more fully and more readily than others: this is true generally whatever the question is, and absolutely true where exact certainty is impossible and opinions are divided. By Aristotle. Persuasion Credible Achieved Speaker Personal

If (b) their One is one as indivisible, nothing will have quantity or quality, and so the one will not be infinite, as Melissus says - nor, indeed, limited, as Parmenides says, for though the limit is indivisible, the limited is not.3 But if (c) all things are one in the sense of having the same definition, like 'raiment' and 'dress', then it turns out that they are maintaining the Heraclitean doctrine, (20) for it will be the same thing 'to be good' and 'to be bad', and 'to be good' and 'to be not good', and so the same thing will be 'good' and 'not good', and man and horse; in fact, their view will be, not that all things are one, but that they are nothing; and that 'to be of such-and-such a quality' is the same as 'to be of such-and-such a size'. By Aristotle. Good Indivisible Quality Things Thing

Man is a goal-seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals. By Aristotle. Man Animal Goalseeking Goals Life

Also our fellow competitors, who are indeed the people just mentioned - we do not compete with men who lived a hundred centuries ago, or those yet not born, or the dead, or those who dwell near the Pillars of Hercules, or those whom, in our opinion or that of others, we take to be far below us or far above us. So too we compete with those who follow the same ends as ourselves; we compete with our rivals in sport or in love, and generally with those who are after the same things; and it is therefore these whom we are bound to envy beyond all others. Hence the saying: By Aristotle. Compete Hercules Pillars Competitors Mentioned

Teachers, who educate children, deserve more honour than parents, who merely gave them birth; for the latter provided mere life, while the former ensure a good life. By Aristotle. Teachers Life Children Deserve Parents

It is just that we should be grateful, not only to those with whose views we may agree, but also to those who have expressed more superficial views; for these also contributed something, by developing before us the powers of thought. By Aristotle. Grateful Agree Thought Views Expressed

There are three qualifications required in those who have to fill the highest offices, - (1) first of all, loyalty to the established constitution; (2) the greatest administrative capacity; (3) virtue and justice of the kind proper to each form of government. By Aristotle. Offices Loyalty Constitution Capacity Virtue

But what is happiness? If we consider what the function of man is, we find that happiness is a virtuous activity of the soul. By Aristotle. Happiness Soul Function Man Find

There are some jobs in which it is impossible for a man to be virtuous. By Aristotle. Virtuous Jobs Impossible Man

We may assume the superiority ceteris paribus of the demonstration which derives from fewer postulates or hypotheses - in short, from fewer premises. By Aristotle. Fewer Hypotheses Short Premises Assume

For though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first. By Aristotle. Truth Friends Piety Love Requires

Tragedy is an imitation not only of a complete action, but of events inspiring fear and pity. Such an effect is best produced when the events come on us by surprise; and the effect is heightened when, at the same time, they follow as cause and effect. The tragic wonder will then be great than if they happened of themselves or by accident; for even coincidences are most striking when they have an air of design. By Aristotle. Tragedy Action Pity Effect Events

Now we say that (a) the continuous is one or that (b) the indivisible is one, or (c) things are said to be 'one', when their essence is one and the same, as 'liquor' and 'drink'. If (a) their One is one in the sense of continuous, it is many, (10) for the continuous is divisible ad infinitum. By Aristotle. Continuous Liquor Drink Things Indivisible

One may go wrong in many different ways, but right only in one, which is why it is easy to fail and difficult to succeed. By Aristotle. Succeed Wrong Easy Fail Difficult

Every art, and every science reduced to a teachable form, and in like manner every action and moral choice, aims, it is thought, at some good: for which reason a common and by no means a bad description of the Chief Good is, that which all things aim at. By Aristotle. Good Chief Art Form Choice

The male has more teeth than the female in mankind, and sheep and goats, and swine. This has not been observed in other animals. Those persons which have the greatest number of teeth are the longest lived; those which have them widely separated, smaller, and more scattered, are generally more short lived. By Aristotle. Mankind Goats Swine Male Female

He then alone will strictly be called brave who is fearless of a noble death, and of all such chances as come upon us with sudden death in their train. By Aristotle. Train Death Strictly Called Brave

For man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all; since armed injustice is the more dangerous, and he is equipped at birth with the arms of intelligence and with moral qualities which he may use for the worst ends. Wherefore, if he have not virtue, he is the most unholy and the most savage of animals, and the most full of lust and gluttony. But justice is the bond of men in states, and the administration of justice, which is the determination of what is just, is the principle of order in political society. By Aristotle. Worst Animals Justice Man Perfected

Some [jests] are becoming to a gentleman, others are not; see that you choose such as become you. Irony better befits a gentleman than buffoonery; the ironical man jokes to amuse himself, the buffoon to amuse other people. By Aristotle. Jests Gentleman Choose Amuse Irony

The seat of the soul and the control of voluntary movement - in fact, of nervous functions in general, - are to be sought in the heart. The brain is an organ of minor importance. By Aristotle. Movement Fact General Heart Seat

Our youth should also be educated with music and physical education. By Aristotle. Education Youth Educated Music Physical

Bravery is a mean state concerned with things that inspire confidence and with things fearful ... and leading us to choose danger and to face it, either because to do so is noble, or because not to do so is base. But to court death as an escape from poverty, or from love, or from some grievous pain, is no proof of bravery, but rather of cowardice. By Aristotle. Things Fearful Noble Base Bravery

Emotions of any kind can be evoked by melody and rhythm; therefore music has the power to form character. By Aristotle. Emotions Rhythm Character Kind Evoked

There is more evidence to prove that saltness [of the sea] is due to the admixture of some substance, besides that which we have adduced. Make a vessel of wax and put it in the sea, fastening its mouth in such a way as to prevent any water getting in. Then the water that percolates through the wax sides of the vessel is sweet, the earthy stuff, the admixture of which makes the water salt, being separated off as it were by a filter. By Aristotle. Sea Water Admixture Saltness Substance

And it will often happen that a man with wealth in the form of coined money will not have enough to eat; and what a ridiculous kind of wealth is that which even in abundance will not save you from dying with hunger! By Aristotle. Wealth Eat Hunger Happen Man

For the real difference between humans and other animals is that humans alone have perception of good and evil, just and unjust, etc. It is the sharing of a common view in these matters that makes a household and a state. By Aristotle. Humans Evil Unjust Real Difference

The business of every art is to bring something into existence, and the practice of an art involves the study of how to bring into existence something which is capable of having such an existence and has its efficient cause in the maker and not in itself. By Aristotle. Existence Bring Art Business Practice

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. By Aristotle. Counted Exist Number Asked Soul

Refuting a merely contentious argument - a description which applies to the arguments both of Melissus and of Parmenides: their premisses are false and their conclusions do not follow. By Aristotle. Parmenides Melissus Refuting Follow Contentious

Now what is just and right is to be interpreted in the sense of 'what is equal'; and that which is right in the sense of being equal is to be considered with reference to the advantage of the state, and the common good of the citizens. And a citizen is one who shares in governing and being governed. He differs under different forms of government, but in the best state he is one who is able and willing to be governed and to govern with a view to the life of virtue. By Aristotle. Sense Equal Interpreted Considered Reference

To leave the number of births unrestricted, as is done in most states, inevitably causes poverty among the citizens, and poverty produces crime and faction. By Aristotle. Unrestricted States Inevitably Citizens Faction

Laws, when good, should be supreme; and that the magistrate or magistrates should regulate those matters only on which the laws are unable to speak with precision owing to the difficulty of any general principle embracing all particulars. By Aristotle. Laws Good Supreme Regulate Matters

People of superior refinement and of active disposition identify happiness with honour; for this is roughly speaking, the end of political life. By Aristotle. People Honour Speaking Life Superior

Since the whole city has one end, it is manifest that education should be one and the same for all, and that it should be public, and not private - not as at present, when every one looks after his own children separately, and gives them separate instruction of the sort which he thinks best; the training in things which are of common interest should be the same for all. Neither must we suppose that any one of the citizens belongs to himself, for they all belong to the state, and are each of them a part of the state, and the care of each part is inseparable from the care of the whole. By Aristotle. End Public Private Present Separately

Fame means being respected by everybody, or having some quality that is desired by all men, or by most, or by the good, or by the wise. By Aristotle. Fame Men Good Wise Respected

Our account does not rob the mathematicians of their science ... In point of fact they do not need the infinite and do not use it. By Aristotle. Science Account Rob Mathematicians Point

Anyone, without any great penetration, may distinguish the dispositions consequent on wealth; for its possessors are insolent and overbearing, from being tainted in a certain way by the getting of their wealth. For they are affected as though they possessed every good; since wealth is a sort of standard of the worth of other things; whence every thing seems to be purchasable by it. By Aristotle. Wealth Penetration Overbearing Great Distinguish

It must not be supposed that happiness will demand many or great possessions; for self-sufficiency does not depend on excessive abundance, nor does moral conduct, and it is possible to perform noble deeds even without being ruler of land and sea: one can do virtuous acts with quite moderate resources. This may be clearly observed in experience: private citizens do not seem to be less but more given to doing virtuous actions than princes and potentates. It is sufficient then if moderate resources are forthcoming; for a life of virtuous activity will be essentially a happy life. By Aristotle. Possessions Abundance Conduct Sea Virtuous

Maybe crying is a means of cleaning yourself out emotionally. Or maybe it's your last resort; the only way to express yourself when words fail, the same as when you were a baby and had no words. By Aristotle. Emotionally Crying Cleaning Words Resort

Between friends there is no need for justice, but people who are just still need the quality of friendship; and indeed friendliness is considered to be justice in the fullest sense. By Aristotle. Friendship Sense Justice Friends People

What is the Good for man? It must be the ultimate end or object of human life: something that is in itself completely satisfying. Happiness fits this description ... we always choose it for itself, and never for any other reason. By Aristotle. Good Man Life Satisfying Happiness

We laugh at inferior or ugly individuals, because we feel a joy at feeling superior to them. By Aristotle. Individuals Laugh Inferior Ugly Feel

All terrible things are more terrible if they give us no chance of retrieving a blunder - either no chance at all, or only one that depends on our enemies and not ourselves. Those things are also worse which we cannot, or cannot easily, help. Speaking generally, anything causes us to feel fear that when it happens to, or threatens, others causes us to feel pity. By Aristotle. Chance Terrible Blunder Things Give

We must no more ask whether the soul and body are one than ask whether the wax and the figure impressed on it are one. By Aristotle. Soul Body Wax Figure Impressed

The tyrant, who in order to hold his power, suppresses every superiority, does away with good men, forbids education and light, controls every movement of the citizens and, keeping them under a perpetual servitude, wants them to grow accustomed to baseness and cowardice, has his spies everywhere to listen to what is said in the meetings, and spreads dissension and calumny among the citizens and impoverishes them, is obliged to make war in order to keep his subjects occupied and impose on them permanent need of a chief. By Aristotle. Order Citizens Tyrant Power Suppresses

The pleasures arising from thinking and learning will make us think and learn all the more. 1153a 23 By Aristotle. Pleasures Arising Thinking Learning Make

That the equalization of property exercises an influence on political society was clearly understood even by some of the old legislators. Laws were made by Solon and others prohibiting an individual from possessing as much land as he pleased; By Aristotle. Legislators Equalization Property Exercises Influence

Quitting smoking is rather a marathon than a sprint. It is not a one-time attempt, but a longer effort By Aristotle. Quitting Sprint Smoking Marathon Attempt

Of actions some aim at what is necessary and useful, and some at what is honorable. And the preference given to one or the other class of actions must necessarily be like the preference given to one or other part of the soul and its actions over the other; there must be war for the sake of peace, business for the sake of leisure, things useful and necessary for the sake of things honorable. By Aristotle. Actions Sake Honorable Preference Aim

When you are lonely, when you feel yourself an alien in the world, play Chess. This will raise your spirits and be your counselor in war By Aristotle. Chess Lonely World Play Feel

A thing chosen always as an end and never as a means we call absolutely final. Now happiness above all else appears to be absolutely final in this sense, since we always choose it for its own sake and never as a means to something else. By Aristotle. Absolutely Final Thing Chosen End

As far as the name goes, we may almist say that the great majority of mankind are agreed about this; for both the multitude and the persons of refinement speak of it as happiness, and conceive 'the good life' or 'doing well' to be the same thing as 'being happy. By Aristotle. Happiness Conceive Life Happy Almist

Happiness, therefore, being found to be something final; and self-sufficient, is the end at which all actions aim. By Aristotle. Happiness Final Selfsufficient Aim Found

We maintain, therefore, that the first essential, the life and soul, so to speak, of Tragedy is the Plot; and that the Characters come second - compare the parallel in painting, where the most beautiful colours laid on without order will not give one the same pleasure as a simple black-and-white sketch of a portrait. By Aristotle. Plot Tragedy Characters Maintain Essential

Anaximenes and Anaxagoras and Democritus say that its [the earth's] flatness is responsible for it staying still: for it does not cut the air beneath but covers it like a lid, which flat bodies evidently do: for they are hard to move even for the winds, on account of their resistance. By Aristotle. Anaxagoras Democritus Anaximenes Earth Flatness

Some men are just as sure of the truth of their opinions as are others of what they know. By Aristotle. Men Truth Opinions

While fiction is often impossible, it should not be implausible. By Aristotle. Impossible Implausible Fiction

Of the tyrant, spies and informers are the principal instruments. War is his favorite occupation, for the sake of engrossing the attention of the people, and making himself necessary to them as their leader. By Aristotle. Tyrant Spies Instruments Informers Principal

The friendship of worthless people has a bad effect (because they take part, unstable as they are, in worthless pursuits, and actually become bad through each other's influence). But the friendship of the good is good, and increases in goodness because of their association. They seem even to become better men by exercising their friendship and improving each other; for the traits that they admire in each other get transferred to themselves. By Aristotle. Worthless Bad Friendship Effect Part

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. By Aristotle. Education Government Neglected Contributes Permanence

What is the highest of all goods achievable by action? ... both the general run of man and people of superior refinement say that it is happiness ... but with regard to what happiness is they differ. By Aristotle. Action Highest Goods Achievable Happiness

Verbally there is very general agreement; for both the general run of men and people of superior refinement say that it is happiness, and identify living well and doing well with being happy; but with regard to what happiness is they differ, and the many do not give the same account as the wise. By Aristotle. General Happiness Verbally Agreement Happy

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. By Aristotle. Religion Tyrant Put Appearance Uncommon

He is courageous who endures and fears the right thing, for the right motive, in the right way and at the right times. By Aristotle. Thing Motive Times Courageous Endures

The society that loses its grip on the past is in danger, for it produces men who know nothing but the present, and who are not aware that life had been, and could be, different from what it is. By Aristotle. Danger Present Society Loses Grip

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. By Aristotle. Life Ethics Virtue True Impediment

The production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet. By Aristotle. Poet Production Spectacular Effects Depends

A poet must be a composer of plots rather than of verses, By Aristotle. Verses Poet Composer Plots

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. By Aristotle. Practical Matters End Mere Speculative

The best man, then, must legislate, and laws must be passed, but these laws will have no authority when they miss the mark, though in all other cases retaining their authority. But when the law cannot determine a point at all, or not well, should the one best man or should all decide? According to our present practice assemblies meet, sit in judgment, deliberate, and decide, and their judgments an relate to individual cases. Now any member of the assembly, taken separately, is certainly inferior to the wise man. But the state is made up of many individuals. And as a feast to which all the guests contribute is better than a banquet furnished by a single man, so a multitude is a better judge of many things than any individual. By Aristotle. Authority Man Laws Legislate Passed

A period may be defined as a portion of speech that has in itself a beginning and an end, being at the same time not too big to be taken in at a glance By Aristotle. End Glance Period Defined Portion

In the arena of human life the honors and rewards fall to those who show their good qualities in action. By Aristotle. Action Arena Human Life Honors

Among people lacking self-restraint, those apt to be impulsive40 are better than those who are in possession of an argument [logos] but do not abide by it. For By Aristotle. Logos Selfrestraint Argument People Lacking

The idea of a king is to be a protector of the rich against unjust treatment, of the people against insult and oppression. Whereas a tyrant, as has often been repeated, has no regard to any public interest, except as conducive to his private ends; his aim is pleasure, the aim of a king, honor. Wherefore also in their desires they differ; the tyrant is desirous of riches, the king, of what brings honor. And the guards of a king are citizens, but of a tyrant mercenaries. By Aristotle. King Tyrant Treatment Oppression Honor

The line between lawful and unlawful abortion will be marked by the fact of having sensation and being alive. By Aristotle. Alive Line Lawful Unlawful Abortion

Inasmuch as every family is a part of a state, and these relationships are the parts of a family, and the virtue of the part must have regard to the virtue of the whole, women and children must be trained by education with an eye to the constitution, if the virtues of either of them are supposed to make any difference in the virtues of the state. And they must make a difference: for the children grow up to be citizens, and half the free persons in a state are women. By Aristotle. Virtue Virtues Part Family State

Since the things we do determine the character of life, no blessed person can become unhappy. For he will never do those things which are hateful and petty. By Aristotle. Life Unhappy Things Determine Character

There are two distinctive peculiarities by reference to which we characterize the soul (1) local movement and (2) thinking, discriminating, and perceiving. Thinking both speculative and practical is regarded as akin to a form of perceiving; for in the one as well as the other the soul discriminates and is cognizant of something which is. By Aristotle. Discriminating Thinking Perceiving Local Soul

It is all wrong that a person who is going to be deemed worthy of the office should himself solicit it ... for no one who is not ambitious would ask to hold office. By Aristotle. Office Wrong Person Deemed Worthy

The goodness or badness, justice or injustice, of laws varies of necessity with the constitution of states. This, however, is clear, that the laws must be adapted to the constitutions. But if so, true forms of government will of necessity have just laws, and perverted forms of government will have unjust laws. By Aristotle. Laws Badness Justice Injustice States

It is no part of a physician's business to use either persuasion or compulsion upon the patients. By Aristotle. Patients Part Physician Business Persuasion

Victory is plesant, not only to those who love to conquer, bot to all; for there is produced an idea of superiority, which all with more or less eagerness desire. By Aristotle. Victory Plesant Conquer Bot Superiority

By 'life,' we mean a thing that can nourish itself and grow and decay. By Aristotle. Life Decay Thing Nourish Grow

Wicked men obey for fear, but the good for love. By Aristotle. Wicked Fear Love Men Obey

For well-being and health, again, the homestead should be airy in summer, and sunny in winter. A homestead possessing these qualities would be longer than it is deep; and its main front would face the south. By Aristotle. Health Summer Winter Homestead Wellbeing

It is of the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it. By Aristotle. Satisfied Nature Desire Men Live

Rising before daylight is also to be commended; it is a healthy habit, and gives more time for the management of the household as well as for liberal studies. By Aristotle. Rising Commended Habit Studies Daylight

We have no evidence as yet about mind or the power to think; it seems to be a widely different kind of soul, differing as what is eternal from what is perishable; it alone is capable of existence in isolation from all other psychic powers. By Aristotle. Soul Differing Perishable Evidence Mind

And here will apply an observation made before, that whatever is proper to each is naturally best and pleasantest to him: such then is to Man the life in accordance with pure Intellect (since this Principle is most truly Man), and if so, then it is also the happiest. By Aristotle. Man Intellect Principle Happiest Apply

It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken. By Aristotle. Banquet Drunken Rise Life Thirsty

The attainment of truth is then the function of both the intellectual parts of the soul. Therefore their respective virtues are those dispositions which will best qualify them to attain truth. By Aristotle. Soul Truth Attainment Function Intellectual

Man perfected by society is the best of all animals; he is the most terrible of all when he lives without law, and without justice. By Aristotle. Man Animals Law Justice Perfected

The best way to avoid envy is to deserve the success you get. By Aristotle. Avoid Envy Deserve Success

Therefore the good man ought to be a lover of self, since he will then both benefit himself by acting nobly and aid his fellows; but the bad man ought not to be a lover of self, since he will follow his base passions, and so injure both himself and his neighbors. With the bad man therefore, what he does is not in accord with what he ought to do, but the good man does what he ought, since intelligence always chooses for itself that which is best, and the good man obeys his intelligence. By Aristotle. Man Good Lover Bad Fellows

Moral virtue is the quality of acting in the best way in relation to pleasures and pains, and that vice is the opposite. By Aristotle. Moral Pains Opposite Virtue Quality

And so the good man ought to be Self-loving: because by doing what is noble he will have advantage himself and will do good to others: but the bad man ought not to be, because he will harm himself and his neighbours by following low and evil passions. In the case of the bad man, what he ought to do and what he does are at variance, but the good man does what he ought to do, because all Intellect chooses what is best for itself and the good man puts himself under the direction of Intellect. By Aristotle. Man Good Selfloving Bad Intellect

All men naturally desire knowledge. An indication of this is our esteem for the senses; for apart from their use we esteem them for their own sake, and most of all the sense of sight. Not only with a view to action, but even when no action is contemplated, we prefer sight, generally speaking, to all the other senses. The reason of this is that of all the senses sight best helps us to know things, and reveals many distinctions. By Aristotle. Senses Knowledge Sight Men Naturally

Now it is evident that the form of government is best in which every man, whoever he is, can act best and live happily. By Aristotle. Man Happily Evident Form Government

If we state the function of man to be a certain kind of life, and this to be an activity or actions of the soul implying a rational principle, and the function of a good man to be the good and noble performance of these, and if any action is well performed when it is performed in accordance with the appropriate excellence human good turns out to be activity of the soul in accordance with virtue, and if there are more than one virtue, in accordance with the best and most complete. By Aristotle. Accordance Function Virtue Good Man

If there are several virtues the best and most complete or perfect of them will be the happiest one. An excellent human will be a person good at living life, living well and 'beautifully'. By Aristotle. Beautifully Virtues Complete Perfect Happiest

And therefore, if the earlier forms of society are natural, so is the state, for it is the end of them, and the [completed] nature is the end. For what each thing is when fully developed, we call its nature, whether we are speaking of a man, a horse, or a family. Besides, the final cause and end of a thing is the best, and to be self-sufficing is the end and the best. By Aristotle. End Completed Nature Natural State

Education is the best provision for old age By Aristotle. Education Age Provision

One should not study what is best, but also what is possible, and similarly what is easier and more attainable by all. By Aristotle. Study Similarly Easier Attainable

Justice is the loveliest and health is the best, but the sweetest to obtain is the heart's desire. By Aristotle. Justice Desire Loveliest Health Sweetest

The body is at its best between the ages of thirty and thirty-five. By Aristotle. Thirtyfive Body Ages Thirty

The things best to know are first principles and causes, but these things are perhaps the most difficult for men to grasp, for they are farthest removed from the senses ... By Aristotle. Things Grasp Senses Principles Difficult

The same things are best both for individuals and for states, and these are the things which the legislator ought to implant in the minds of his citizens. By Aristotle. Things States Citizens Individuals Legislator

How can a man know what is good or best for him, and yet chronically fail to act upon his knowledge? By Aristotle. Knowledge Man Good Chronically Fail

The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances. - Aristotle By Aristotle. Grace Making Circumstances Aristotle Ideal

The happy life is thought to be one of excellence; now an excellent life requires exertion, and does not consist in amusement. If Eudaimonia, or happiness, is activity in accordance with excellence, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest excellence; and this will be that of the best thing in us. By Aristotle. Excellence Life Exertion Amusement Accordance

True happiness comes from gaining insight and growing into your best possible self. Otherwise all you're having is immediate gratification pleasure, which is fleeting and doesn't grow you as a person. By Aristotle. True Happiness Gaining Insight Growing

Here and elsewhere we shall not obtain the best insight into things until we actually see them growing from the beginning. By Aristotle. Beginning Obtain Insight Things Growing

The ideal man is his own best friend and takes delight in privacy. By Aristotle. Privacy Ideal Man Friend Delight

The Life of the intellect is the best and pleasantest for man, because the intellect more than anything else is the man. Thus it will be the happiest life as well. By Aristotle. Man Intellect Life Pleasantest Happiest

We must not listen to those who advise us 'being men to think human thoughts, and being mortal to think mortal thoughts' but must put on immortality as much as possible and strain every nerve to live according to that best part of us, which, being small in bulk, yet much more in its power and honour surpasses all else. By Aristotle. Mortal Thoughts Bulk Listen Advise

Every man should be responsible to others, nor should anyone be allowed to do just as he pleases; for where absolute freedom is allowed there is nothing to restrain the evil which is inherent in every man. But the principle of responsibility secures that which is the greatest good in states; the right persons rule and are prevented from doing wrong, and the people have their due. It is evident that this is the best kind of democracy, and why? because the people are drawn from a certain class. By Aristotle. Man Allowed Responsible Absolute Freedom

The man who is truly good and wise will bear with dignity whatever fortune sends, and will always make the best of his circumstances. By Aristotle. Sends Circumstances Man Good Wise

When states are democratically governed according to law, there are no demagogues, and the best citizens are securely in the saddle; but where the laws are not sovereign, there you find demagogues. The people become a monarch ... such people, in its role as a monarch, not being controlled by law, aims at sole power and becomes like a master. By Aristotle. Demagogues Monarch Saddle Sovereign States

The best way to teach morality is to make it a habit with children. By Aristotle. Children Teach Morality Make Habit

The life which is best for men, both separately, as individuals, and in the mass, as states, is the life which has virtue sufficiently supported by material resources to facilitate participation in the actions that virtue calls for. By Aristotle. Life Virtue Men Separately Individuals

The life of theoretical philosophy is the best and happiest a man can lead. Few men are capable of it and then only intermittently. For the rest there is a second-best way of life, that of moral virtue and practical wisdom. By Aristotle. Lead Theoretical Philosophy Happiest Man

The Good of Man comes to be "a working of the Soul in the way of Excellence," or, if Excellence admits of degrees, in the way of the best and most perfect Excellence. By Aristotle. Excellence Good Man Soul Degrees

If purpose, then, is inherent in art, so is it in Nature also. The best illustration is the case of a man being his own physician, for Nature is like that - agent and patient at once. By Aristotle. Nature Purpose Art Inherent Physician

We must as second best, as people say, take the least of the evils. By Aristotle. Evils People

Happiness lies in virtuous activity, and perfect happiness lies in the best activity, which is contemplative By Aristotle. Lies Activity Happiness Contemplative Virtuous

There is also a doubt as to what is to be the supreme power in the state: - Is it the multitude? Or the wealthy? Or the good? Or the one best man? Or a tyrant? By Aristotle. State Multitude Doubt Supreme Power

A man is his own best friend; therefore he ought to love himself best. By Aristotle. Friend Man Love

If, therefore, there is any one superior in virtue and in the power of performing the best actions, him we ought to follow and obey, but he must have the capacity for action as well as virtue. By Aristotle. Virtue Obey Superior Power Performing

The best things are placed between extremes. By Aristotle. Extremes Things

The best tragedies are conflicts between a hero and his destiny. By Aristotle. Destiny Tragedies Conflicts Hero

There are still two forms besides democracy and oligarchy; one of them is universally recognized and included among the four principal forms of government, which are said to be (1) monarchy, (2) oligarchy, (3) democracy, and (4) the so-called aristocracy or government of the best. But there is also a fifth, which retains the generic name of polity or constitutional government; By Aristotle. Oligarchy Monarchy Forms Democracy Government

If something's bound to happen, it will happen.. Right time, right person, and for the best reason. By Aristotle. Happen Happen Bound Time Person

If, therefore, there is some end of our actions that we wish for on account of itself, the rest being things we wish for on account of this end, and if we do not choose all things on account of something else - for in this way the process will go on infinitely such that the longing6 involved is empty and pointless - clearly this would be the good, that is, the best. By Aristotle. Account End Things Involved Pointless

The best political community is formed by citizens of the middle class. By Aristotle. Class Political Community Formed Citizens

They should rule who are able to rule best. By Aristotle. Rule

Thus we must advance from generalities to particulars; for it is a whole that is best known to sense-perception, (25) and a generality is a kind of whole, comprehending many things within it, like parts. By Aristotle. Senseperception Comprehending Parts Advance Generalities

He who sees things grow from the beginning will have the best view of them. By Aristotle. Things Grow Beginning View

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. By Aristotle. Rebel Excel Virtue Men Inclined

The eyes of some persons are large, others small, and others of a moderate size; the last-mentioned are the best. And some eyes are projecting, some deep-set, and some moderate, and those which are deep-set have the most acute vision in all animals; the middle position is a sign of the best disposition. By Aristotle. Large Small Size Eyes Moderate

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. By Aristotle. Equality Democracy Utmost Liberty Thought

Happiness then is the best, noblest, and most pleasant thing in the world, and these attributes are not severed as in the inscription at Delos- Most noble is that which is justest, and best is health; But pleasantest is it to win what we love. By Aristotle. Delos Noblest Happiness World Justest

Life in accordance with intellect is best and pleasantest, since this, more than anything else, constitutes humanity. By Aristotle. Life Pleasantest Constitutes Humanity Accordance

That education should be regulated by law and should be an affair of state is not to be denied, but what should be the character of this public education, and how young persons should be educated, are questions which remain to be considered. As things are, there is disagreement about the subjects. For mankind are by no means agreed about the things to be taught, whether we look to virtue or the best life. Neither is it clear whether education is more concerned with intellectual or with moral virtue. By Aristotle. Denied Educated Considered Education Regulated

The best friend is he that, when he wishes a person's good, wishes it for that person's own sake. By Aristotle. Good Sake Wishes Person Friend

A good man may make the best even of poverty and disease, and the other ills of life; but he can only attain happiness under the opposite conditions By Aristotle. Disease Life Conditions Good Man

To feel these feelings at the right time, on the right occasion, towards the right people, for the right purpose and in the right manner, is to feel the best amount of them, which is the mean amount - and the best amount is of course the mark of virtue. By Aristotle. Amount Feel Time Occasion People

The good for man is an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue, or if there are more kinds of virtue than one, in accordance with the best and most perfect kind. By Aristotle. Accordance Virtue Good Man Activity

For what is the best choice, for each individual is the highest it is possible for him to achieve. By Aristotle. Choice Achieve Individual Highest

For desire is like a wild beast, and anger perverts rulers and the very best of men. Hence law is intelligence without appetition. By Aristotle. Beast Men Desire Wild Anger

Happiness is at once the best, the noblest, and the pleasantest of things. By Aristotle. Happiness Noblest Things Pleasantest

Some thinkers hold that it is by nature that people become good, others that it is by habit, and others that it is by instruction ... just as a piece of land has to be prepared beforehand if it is to nourish the seed, so the mind of the pupil has to be prepared in its habits if it is to enjoy and dislike the right things. By Aristotle. Good Instruction Thinkers Hold Nature

It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom. By Aristotle. Wealth Daybreak Health Wisdom Habits

Again, it is absurd to hold that a man ought to be ashamed of being unable to defend himself with his limbs, but not of being unable to defend himself with speech and reason, when the use of rational speech is more distinctive of a human being than the use of his limbs. And if it be objected that one who uses such power of speech unjustly might do great harm, that is a charge which may be made in common against all good things except virtue, and above all against the things that are most useful, as strength, health, wealth, generalship. A man can confer the greatest of benefits by a right use of these, and inflict the greatest of injuries by using them wrongly. By Aristotle. Limbs Unable Defend Speech Reason

Hence 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 aimed at is not knowledge but action. And it makes no difference whether he is young in years or youthful in character; the defect does not depend on time, but on his living, and pursuing each successive object, as passion directs. For to such persons, as to the incontinent, knowledge brings no profit; but to those who desire and act in accordance with a rational principle knowledge about such matters will be of great benefit. By Aristotle. Knowledge Science Life Unprofitable Young

Happiness is the utilization of one's talents along lines of excellence. By Aristotle. Happiness Excellence Utilization Talents Lines

For just as for a flute-player, a sculptor, or an artist, and, in general, for all things that have a function or activity, the good and the well is thought to reside in the function, so would it seem to be for man, if he has a function. By Aristotle. Function Fluteplayer Sculptor Artist General

Again, it is possible to fail in many ways (for evil belongs to the class of the unlimited and good to that of the limited), while to succeed is possible only in one way (for which reason also one is easy and the other difficult - to miss the mark easy, to hit it difficult); for these reasons also, then, excess and defect are characteristic of vice, and the mean of virtue; For men are good in but one way, but bad in many. By Aristotle. Difficult Good Easy Limited Excess

Whereas young people become accomplished in geometry and mathematics, and wise within these limits, prudent young people do not seem to be found. The reason is that prudence is concerned with particulars as well as universals, and particulars become known from experience, but a young person lacks experience, since some length of time is needed to produce it. By Aristotle. People Young Mathematics Limits Prudent

Now if you have proofs to bring forward, bring them forward, and your moral discourse as well; if you have no enthymemes, then fall back upon moral discourse: after all, it is more fitting for a good man to display himself as an honest fellow than as a subtle reasoner. By Aristotle. Forward Moral Discourse Bring Enthymemes

Beside these there is no other way; for the act is necessarily either done or not done, and those who act either have knowledge or do not. By Aristotle. Act Necessarily Knowledge

Leisure of itself gives pleasure and happiness and enjoyment of life, which are experienced, not by the busy man, but by those who have leisure. By Aristotle. Life Experienced Man Leisure Pleasure

Gentleness is the ability to bear reproaches and slights with moderation, and not to embark on revenge quickly, and not to be easily provoked to anger, but be free from bitterness and contentiousness, having tranquility and stability in the spirit. By Aristotle. Gentleness Moderation Quickly Anger Contentiousness

Why is it that all those who have become eminent in philosophy, politics, poetry, or the arts are clearly of an atrabilious temperament and some of them to such an extent as to be affected by diseases caused by black bile? By Aristotle. Politics Poetry Philosophy Bile Eminent

Adventure is worthwhile. By Aristotle. Adventure Worthwhile

Politicians also have no leisure, because they are always aiming at something beyond political life itself, power and glory, or happiness. By Aristotle. Politicians Leisure Power Glory Happiness

Goodness is to do good to the deserving and love the good and hate the wicked, and not to be eager to inflict punishment or take vengeance, but to be gracious and kindly and forgiving. By Aristotle. Good Goodness Wicked Vengeance Forgiving

When we look at the matter from another point of view, great caution would seem to be required. For the habit of lightly changing the laws is an evil, and, when the advantage is small, some errors both of lawgivers and rulers had better be left; the citizen will not gain so much by making the change as he will lose by the habit of disobedience. By Aristotle. View Great Required Habit Matter

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. By Aristotle. Science Life Passions Unprofitable Young

The error of Socrates must be attributed to the false notion of unity from which he starts. Unity there should be, both of the family and of the state, but in some respects only. For there is a point at which a state may attain such a degree of unity as to be no longer a state, or at which, without actually ceasing to exist, it will become an inferior state, like harmony passing into unison, or rhythm which has been reduced to a single foot. The state, as I was saying, is a plurality which should be united and made into a community by education By Aristotle. Socrates State Unity Starts Error

[this element], the seat of the appetites and of desire in general, does in a sense participate in principle, as being amenable and obedient to it By Aristotle. Element General Principle Seat Appetites

And, speaking generally, passion seems not to be amenable to reason, but only to force. By Aristotle. Speaking Generally Passion Reason Force

Happiness does not consist in pastimes and amusements but in virtuous activities. By Aristotle. Happiness Activities Consist Pastimes Amusements

All art is concerned with coming into being; for it is concerned neither with things that are, or come into being by necessity, nor with things that do so in accordance with nature. By Aristotle. Things Concerned Necessity Nature Art

We learn an art or craft by doing the things that we shall have to do when we have learnt it. By Aristotle. Learn Art Craft Things Learnt

Rhetoric is useful because truth and justice are in their nature stronger than their opposites; so that if decisions be made, not in conformity to the rule of propriety, it must have been that they have been got the better of through fault of the advocates themselves: and this is deserving reprehension. By Aristotle. Rhetoric Opposites Made Propriety Reprehension

You should never think without an image. By Aristotle. Image

Some animals are cunning and evil-disposed, as the fox; others, as the dog, are fierce, friendly, and fawning. Some are gentle and easily tamed, as the elephant; some are susceptible of shame, and watchful, as the goose. Some are jealous and fond of ornament, as the peacock. By Aristotle. Friendly Evildisposed Fox Dog Fierce

The majority of mankind would seem to be beguiled into error by pleasure, which, not being really a good, yet seems to be so. So that they indiscriminately choose as good whatsoever gives them pleasure, while they avoid all pain alike as evil. By Aristotle. Pleasure Good Majority Mankind Beguiled

Be a free thinker and don't accept everything you hear as truth. Be critical and evaluate what you believe in. By Aristotle. Truth Free Thinker Accept Hear

Our judgments when we are pleased and friendly are not the same as when we are pained and hostile. By Aristotle. Hostile Judgments Pleased Friendly Pained

Teenagers these days are out of control. They eat like pigs, they are disrespectful of adults, they interrupt and contradict their parents, and they terrorize their teachers. By Aristotle. Teenagers Control Days Pigs Adults

Women who are with child should be careful of themselves; they should take exercise and have a nourishing diet. The first of these prescriptions the legislator will easily carry into effect by requiring that they should take a walk daily to some temple, where they can worship the gods who preside over birth. Their minds, however, unlike their bodies, they ought to keep quiet, for the offspring derive their natures from their mothers as plants do from earth. By Aristotle. Women Diet Child Careful Exercise

All human happiness and misery take the form of action. By Aristotle. Action Human Happiness Misery Form

Friends are much better tried in bad fortune than in good. By Aristotle. Friends Good Bad Fortune

Bad men ... aim at getting more than their share of advantages, while in labor and public service they fall short of their share; and each man wishing for advantage to himself criticizes his neighbor and stands in his way; for if people do not watch it carefully the common weal is soon destroyed. The result is that they are in a state of faction, putting compulsion on each other but unwilling themselves to do what is just. By Aristotle. Bad Men Share Aim Destroyed

Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope. By Aristotle. Youth Hope Easily Deceived Quick

Hippodamus, son of Euryphon, a native of Miletus, invented the art of planning and laid out the street plan of Piraeus. By Aristotle. Euryphon Miletus Piraeus Hippodamus Son

And so long as they were at war, their power was preserved, but when they had attained empire they fell, for of the arts of peace they knew nothing, and had never engaged in any employment higher than war. By Aristotle. War Preserved Fell Long Power

Indeed, we may go further and assert that anyone who does not delight in fine actions is not even a good man. By Aristotle. Man Assert Delight Fine Actions

Of cases where a man is truthful both in speech and conduct when no considerations of honesty come in, from an habitual sincerity of disposition. Such sincerity may be esteemed a moral excellence; for the lover of truth, who is truthful even when nothing depends on it, will a fortiori be truthful when some interest is at stake, since having all along avoided falsehood for its own sake, he will assuredly avoid it when it is morally base; and this is a disposition that we praise. By Aristotle. Truthful Sincerity Disposition Cases Man

It is not once nor twice but times without number that the same ideas make their appearance in the world. By Aristotle. World Times Number Ideas Make

Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion. This is not a function of any other art. By Aristotle. Rhetoric Persuasion Defined Faculty Observing

The high-minded man does not bear grudges, for it is not the mark of a great soul to remember injuries, but to forget them. By Aristotle. Grudges Injuries Highminded Man Bear

The saying of Protagoras is like the views we have mentioned; he said that man is the measure of all things, meaning simply that that which seems to each man assuredly is. If this is so, it follows that the same thing both is and is not, and is bad and good, and that the contents of all other opposite statements are true, because often a particular thing appears beautiful to some and ugly to others, and that which appears to each man is the measure By Aristotle. Man Protagoras Measure Mentioned Meaning

It is the active exercise of our faculties in conformity with virtue that causes happiness, and the opposite activities its opposite. By Aristotle. Happiness Opposite Active Exercise Faculties

wherefore one who divines well in regard to the truth will also be able to divine well in regard to probabilities. It By Aristotle. Regard Wherefore Probabilities Divines Divine

Walked right by an ex-girlfriend today. Not on purpose, I just didn't recognize her with her mouth closed. By Aristotle. Walked Today Exgirlfriend Purpose Closed

And by this very difference tragedy stands apart in relation to comedy, for the latter intends to imitate those who are worse, and the former better, than people are now. By Aristotle. Comedy Worse Difference Tragedy Stands

Hence it is evident that the state is a creation of nature, and that man is by nature a political animal. And he who by nature and not by mere accident is without a state, is either a bad man or above humanity; he is like the Tribeless, lawless, hearthless one, whom Homer denounces - the natural outcast is forthwith a lover of war; he may be compared to an isolated piece at draughts. By Aristotle. Nature Animal State Man Evident

It is evident that the state is a creation of nature, and that man is by nature a political animal. By Aristotle. Nature Animal Evident State Creation

Music has a power of forming the character, and should therefore be introduced into the education of the young. By Aristotle. Music Character Young Power Forming

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. By Aristotle. Bitter Sweet Roots Education Fruit

All art, all education, can be merely a supplement to nature. By Aristotle. Art Education Nature Supplement

Aristocracy is that form of government in which education and discipline are qualifications for suffrage and office holding. By Aristotle. Aristocracy Holding Form Government Education

The rattle is a toy suited to the infant mind, and education is a rattle or toy for children of larger growth. By Aristotle. Mind Growth Rattle Toy Suited

But since there is but one aim for the entire state, it follows that education must be one and the same for all, and that the responsibility for it must be a public one, not the private affair which it now is, each man looking after his own children and teaching them privately whatever private curriculum he thinks they ought to study. By Aristotle. Private State Study Aim Entire

There are branches of learning and education which we must study merely with a view to leisure spent in intellectual activity, and these are to be valued for their own sake; whereas those kinds of knowledge which are useful in business are to be deemed necessary, and exist for the sake of other things. By Aristotle. Sake Activity Things Branches Learning

To learn is a natural pleasure, not confined to philosophers, but common to all men. By Aristotle. Pleasure Philosophers Men Learn Natural

In the case of some people, not even if we had the most accurate scientific knowledge, would it be easy to persuade them were we to address them through the medium of that knowledge; for a scientific discourse, it is the privilege of education to appreciate, and it is impossible that this should extend to the multitude. By Aristotle. Knowledge Scientific People Discourse Multitude

Not to know of what things one should demand demonstration, and of what one should not, argues want of education. By Aristotle. Demonstration Argues Education Things Demand

The aim of education is to make the pupil like and dislike what he ought ... The little human animal will not at first have the right responses. It must be trained to feel pleasure, liking, disgust, and hatred at those things which really are pleasant, likable, disgusting, and hateful. By Aristotle. Aim Education Make Pupil Dislike

And in the same spirit should each person receive what we say: for the man of education will seek exactness so far in each subject as the nature of the thing admits, it being plainly much the same absurdity to put up with a mathematician who tries to persuade instead of proving, and to demand strict demonstrative reasoning of a Rhetorician. By Aristotle. Rhetorician Admits Proving Spirit Person

The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living differ from the dead. By Aristotle. Differ Dead Educated Uneducated Living

Educating the head without educating the heart is no education at all By Aristotle. Educating Head Heart Education

Youth should be kept strangers to all that is bad, and especially to things which suggest vice or hate. When the five years have passed away, during the two following years they must look on at the pursuits which they are hereafter to learn. There are two periods of life with reference to which education has to be divided, from seven to the age of puberty, and onwards to the age of one and twenty. By Aristotle. Youth Bad Hate Strangers Things

All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth. By Aristotle. Youth Meditated Art Governing Mankind

Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity. By Aristotle. Education Adversity Ornament Prosperity Refuge

Now each man judges well the things he knows, and of these he is a good judge. And so the man who has been educated in a subject is a good judge of that subject, and the man who has received an all-round education is a good judge in general. By Aristotle. Good Man Judge Things Subject

Anything that we have to learn to do we learn by the actual doing of it; People become builders by building and instrumentalists by playing instruments. Similarily, we become just by performing just acts, temperate by performing temperate ones, brave by performing brave ones. By Aristotle. People Learn Performing Instruments Actual

Women should marry when they are about eighteen years of age, and men at seven and thirty; then they are in the prime of life, and the decline in the powers of both will coincide. By Aristotle. Women Age Thirty Life Coincide

Education and morals make the good man, the good statesman, the good ruler. By Aristotle. Good Education Man Statesman Ruler

The legislator should direct his attention above all to the education of youth; for the neglect of education does harm to the constitution. The citizen should be molded to suit the form of government under which he lives. For each government has a peculiar character which originally formed and which continues to preserve it. The character of democracy creates democracy, and the character of oligarchy creates oligarchy. By Aristotle. Education Character Youth Constitution Legislator

All who have meditated upon the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depend upon the education of youth. By Aristotle. Youth Meditated Art Governing Mankind

To give away money is an easy matter and in any man's power. But to decide to whom to give it and how large and when, and for what purpose and how, is neither in every man's power nor an easy matter. By Aristotle. Easy Give Matter Man Power

The deficiencies of nature are what art and education seek to fill up. By Aristotle. Deficiencies Nature Art Education Seek

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. By Aristotle. Evident Sons Noble Sort Education

Education and morals will be found almost the whole that goes to make a good man. By Aristotle. Education Man Morals Found Make

The habits we form from childhood make no small difference, but rather they make all the difference. By Aristotle. Difference Make Habits Form Childhood

Education begins at the level of the learner. By Aristotle. Education Learner Begins Level

Learning is an ornament in prosperity, a refuge in adversity, and a provision in old age. By Aristotle. Learning Prosperity Adversity Age Ornament

Everything is done with a goal, and that goal is "good". By Aristotle. Good Goal

Beauty depends on size as well as symmetry. No very small animal can be beautiful, for looking at it takes so small a portion of time that the impression of it will be confused. Nor can any very large one, for a whole view of it cannot be had at once, and so there will be no unity and completeness. By Aristotle. Beauty Symmetry Depends Size Small

A change in the shape of the body creates a change in the state of the soul. By Aristotle. Change Soul Shape Body Creates

Soul and body, I suggest react sympathetically upon each other. A change in the state of the soul produces a change in the shape of the body and conversely, a change in the shape of the body produces a change in the state of the soul. By Aristotle. Change Soul Body Suggest React

For as the interposition of a rivulet, however small, will occasion the line of the phalanx to fluctuate, so any trifling disagreement will be the cause of seditions; but they will not so soon flow from anything else as from the disagreement between virtue and vice, and next to that between poverty and riches. By Aristotle. Disagreement Rivulet Small Fluctuate Seditions

There are three things that are the motives of choice and three that are the motives of avoidance; namely, the noble, the expedient, and the pleasant, and their opposites, the base, the harmful, and the painful. Now in respect of all these the good man is likely to go right and the bad to go wrong, but especially in respect of pleasure; for pleasure is common to man with the lower animals, and also it is a concomitant of all the objects of choice, since both the noble and the expedient appear to us pleasant. By Aristotle. Motives Pleasant Choice Noble Expedient

The sun, moving as it does, sets up processes of change and becoming and decay, and by its agency the finest and sweetest water is every day carried up and is dissolved into vapour and rises to the upper region, where it is condensed again by the cold and so returns to the earth. This, as we have said before, is the regular course of nature. By Aristotle. Sun Moving Sets Decay Region

In a race, the quickest runner can never overtake the slowest, since the pursuer must first reach the point whence the pursued started, so that the slower must always hold a lead. By Aristotle. Race Slowest Started Lead Quickest

Now the greatest external good we should assume to be the thing which we offer as a tribute to the gods, and which is most coveted by men of high station, and is the prize awarded for the noblest deeds; and such a thing is honor, for honor is clearly the greatest of external goods. By Aristotle. Greatest External Thing Honor Gods

The ideal man takes joy in doing favors for others. By Aristotle. Ideal Man Joy Favors

And yet the true creator is necessity, which is the mother of invention. By Aristotle. Necessity Invention True Creator Mother

But to be constantly asking 'What is the use of it?' is unbecoming to those of broad vision and unworthy of free men. By Aristotle. Men Constantly Unbecoming Broad Vision

They who love in excess also hate in excess. By Aristotle. Excess Love Hate

Men become richer not only by increasing their existing wealth but also by decreasing their expenditure. By Aristotle. Men Expenditure Richer Increasing Existing

Now it is impossible that the infinite should be a thing which is itself infinite, separable from sensible objects. If the infinite is neither a magnitude nor an aggregate, but is itself a substance and not an attribute, it will be indivisible; for the divisible must be either a magnitude or an aggregate. But if indivisible, then not infinite, except in the sense (1) in which the voice is 'invisible'. But this is not the sense in which it is used by those who say that the infinite exists, nor that in which we are investigating it, namely as (2) 'that which cannot be gone through'. But if the infinite exists as an attribute, it would not be, qua infinite an element in substances, any more than the invisible would be an element of speech, though the voice is invisible. Physics, III, 5, 206a By Aristotle. Infinite Aggregate Invisible Indivisible Separable

A line is not made up of points ... In the same way, time is not made up parts considered as indivisible 'nows.' Part of Aristotle's reply to Zeno's paradox concerning continuity. By Aristotle. Made Points Line Aristotle Zeno

The state comes into existence for the sake of life and continues to exist for the sake of good life. By Aristotle. Sake Life State Existence Continues

The first set make the underlying body one - either one of the three5 or something else which is denser than fire and rarer than air - then generate everything else from this, (15) and obtain multiplicity by condensation and rarefaction. Now these are contraries, which may be generalized into 'excess and defect'. By Aristotle. Air Rarefaction Set Make Underlying

The poet should even act his story with the very gestures of his personages. Given the same natural qualifications, he who feels the emotions to be described will be the most convincing; distress and anger, for instance, are portrayed most truthfully by one who is feeling them at the moment. Hence it is that poetry demands a man with a special gift for it, or else one with a touch of madness in him; the former can easily assume the required mood, and the latter may be actually beside himself with emotion. By Aristotle. Personages Poet Act Story Gestures

Friendship is a thing most necessary to life, since without friends no one would choose to live, though possessed of all other advantages. By Aristotle. Friendship Life Live Advantages Thing

Friends hold a mirror up to each other; through that mirror they can see each other in ways that would not otherwise be accessible to them, and it is this mirroring that helps them improve themselves as persons. By Aristotle. Mirror Friends Persons Hold Accessible

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. By Aristotle. Friend Bodies Single Soul Dwelling

They who have drunk beer, fall on their back, but there is a peculiarity in the effects of the drink made from barley, for they that get drunk on other intoxicating liquors fall on all parts of their body, they fall on the left side, on the right side, on their faces, and and on their backs. But it is only those who get drunk on beer that fall on their backs with their faces upward. By Aristotle. Fall Side Drunk Backs Faces

Happiness is the settling of the soul into its most appropriate spot. By Aristotle. Happiness Spot Settling Soul

It was at this point that the transition was first made to the conception that rhetoric was a teachable skill, that it could, usually in return for a fee, be passed from one skilled performer on to others, who might thereby achieve successes in their practical life that would otherwise have eluded them. By Aristotle. Skill Fee Point Transition Made

Some animals utter a loud cry. Some are silent, and others have a voice, which in some cases may be expressed by a word; in others, it cannot. There are also noisy animals and silent animals, musical and unmusical kinds, but they are mostly noisy about the breeding season. By Aristotle. Cry Animals Utter Loud Silent

Long-lived persons have one or two lines which extend through the whole hand; short-lived persons have two lines not extending through the whole hand. By Aristotle. Hand Persons Lines Longlived Shortlived

For both excessive and insufficient exercise destroy one's strength, and both eating and drinking too much or too little destroy health, whereas the right quantity produces, increases and preserves it. So it is the same with temperance, courage and the other virtues. This much then, is clear: in all our conduct it is the mean that is to be commended. By Aristotle. Destroy Strength Health Produces Increases

For both excessive and deficient exercise ruin bodily strength, and, similarly, too much or too little eating or drinking ruins health, whereas the proportionate amount produces, increases, and preserves it. By Aristotle. Similarly Increases Strength Health Produces

Wisdom or intelligence and prudence are intellectual, liberality and temperance are moral virtues. By Aristotle. Wisdom Intellectual Liberality Virtues Intelligence

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. By Aristotle. Virtues Nature Moral Produced Prepares

All are agreed that the various moral qualities are in a sense bestowed by nature: we are just, and capable of temperance, and brave, and possessed of the other virtues from the moment of our birth. But nevertheless we expect to find that true goodness is something different, and that the virtues in the true sense come to belong to us in another way. For even children and wild animals possess the natural dispositions, yet without Intelligence these may manifestly be harmful. By Aristotle. Nature Temperance Brave Birth Sense

Our virtues are voluntary (and in fact we are in a sense ourselves partly the cause of our moral dispositions, and it is our having a certain character that makes us set up an end of a certain kind), it follows that our vices are voluntary also; they are voluntary in the same manner as our virtues. By Aristotle. Voluntary Virtues Dispositions Kind Fact

[the virtues] cannot exist without Prudence. A proof of this is that everyone, even at the present day, in defining Virtue, after saying what disposition it is [i.e. moral virtue] and specifying the things with which it is concerned, adds that it is a disposition determined by the right principle; and the right principle is the principle determined by Prudence. By Aristotle. Prudence Virtue Principle Virtues Exist

None of the moral virtues is engendered in us by nature, for no natural property can be altered by habit. By Aristotle. Nature Habit Moral Virtues Engendered

Greatness of Soul seems therefore to be as it were a crowning ornament of the virtues; it enhances their greatness, and it cannot exist without them. Hence it is hard to be truly great-souled, for greatness of soul is impossible without moral nobility. By Aristotle. Soul Greatness Virtues Crowning Ornament

Happiness belongs to the self sufficient. By Aristotle. Happiness Sufficient Belongs

Our feelings towards our friends reflect our feelings towards ourselves. By Aristotle. Feelings Friends Reflect

For suppose that every tool we had could perform its task, either at our bidding or itself perceiving the need, and if-like the statues made by Daedalus or the tripods of Hephaestus, of which the poet says that "self-moved they enter the assembly of the gods" - shuttles in a loom could fly to and fro and a plectrum play a lyre all self-moved, then master-craftsmen would have no need of servants nor masters of slaves. By Aristotle. Hephaestus Selfmoved Daedalus Task Gods

To attain any assured knowledge about the soul is one of the most difficult things in the world. By Aristotle. World Attain Assured Knowledge Soul

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. By Aristotle. Men Starting Adopt Learn Change

To Unlearn is as hard as to Learn By Aristotle. Learn Unlearn Hard

Marriage is like retiring as a bachelor and getting a sexual pension. You don't have to work for the sex any more, but you only get 65% as much. By Aristotle. Marriage Pension Retiring Bachelor Sexual