Aristotle

Find the best quotes, maxims and aphorisms of Aristotle

Biography : Greek philosopher.
Born: -384 - Died: -322
Period:
4th century BC
Place of birth: Greece
Greece

Greece

Aristotle - Quotes

Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient.
Aristotle /

happiness

One swallow does not make a summer.
Aristotle /

spring

Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.
Aristotle /

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

Nature does nothing in vain.
Aristotle /

nature

Nature does nothing in vain.

Man is by nature a political animal.
Aristotle /

All men by nature desire knowledge.
Aristotle - Metaphysics /

All men by nature desire knowledge.

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

nature

And therefore justice is often thought to be the greatest of virtues, and 'neither evening nor morning star' is so wonderful; and proverbially 'in justice is every virtue comprehended'.
Aristotle - Nicomachean Ethics /

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

anger

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

truth

He who hath many friends hath none.
Aristotle /

Hope is a waking dream.
Aristotle /

Memory is the scribe of the soul.
Aristotle /

soul

Knowledge of the fact differs from knowledge of the reason for the fact.
Aristotle /

The more a class of beings possesses the faculty of contemplation, the more it enjoys happiness, not as an accidental concomitant of contemplation but as inherent in it, since contemplation is valuable in itself. It follows that happiness is some form of contemplation.
Aristotle - Nicomachean Ethics /

Every movement takes time and is for the sake of an end.
Aristotle - Nicomachean Ethics /

In the arena of human life the honors and rewards fall to those who show their good qualities in action.
Aristotle - Nicomachean Ethics /

action

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

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

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

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

We make war that we may live in peace.
Aristotle /

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

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

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

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

life

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

The energy of the mind is the essence of life.
Aristotle /

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

philosophy