In this post, we’ll read Aristotle quotes who was an ancient Greek philosopher and polymath.
Aristotle (384–322 BCE) was the son of a physician to the Macedonian king, and received his early education in medicine and philosophy.
At the age of seventeen, he went to Athens to study at Plato‘s Academy, where he remained for nearly twenty years. After leaving Plato’s Academy, he founded his own school, known as the Lyceum which served as a center for philosophical inquiry and scientific research.
His philosophy was to understand the natural world. Unlike his teacher Plato, who emphasized abstract forms and ideals, Aristotle believed in the importance of observation and empirical evidence in understanding reality. His surviving works cover topics from metaphysics and ethics to politics and biology.
Let’s read some of the best Aristotle quotes about life, politics, character, and more.
Best Aristotle Quotes
1. “Well begun is half done.”
2. “There is no great genius without some touch of madness.”
3. “Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth.”
4. “He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled.”
5. “Most people would rather give than get affection.”
6. “Through discipline comes freedom.”
7. “We become brave by doing brave acts.”
8. “It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen.”
9. “What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.”
10. “Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach.”
Aristotle Quotes on Love
1. “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.”
2. “For though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first.”
3. “No one loves the man whom he fears.”
4. “Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved.”
5. “They who love in excess also hate in excess.”
Aristotle Quotes on Happiness
1. “Happiness depends upon ourselves.”
2. “Happiness is a state of activity.”
3. “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”
4. “Happiness is a quality of the soul, not a function of one’s material circumstances.”
5. “Happiness then, is found to be something perfect and self sufficient, being the end to which our actions are directed.”
6. “Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient.”
Aristotle Quotes on Life
1. “Life is only meaningful when we are striving for a goal.”
2. “The energy of the mind is the essence of life.”
3. “The state comes into existence for the sake of life and continues to exist for the sake of good life.”
4. “Men create gods after their own image, not only with regard to their form but with regard to their mode of life.”
5. “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.”
6. “It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken.”
7. “The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.”
8. “The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.”
9. “A person’s life persuades better than his word.”
Aristotle Quotes on Democracy
1. “Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.”
2. “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.”
3. “Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.”
4. “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.”
5. “Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms.”
Aristotle Quotes on Education
1. “The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.”
2. “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”
3. “Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.”
4. “Education is the best provision for old age.”
5. “Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.”
6. “The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead.”
7. “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
8. “Wit is educated insolence.”
Aristotle Quotes on Politics
1. “Man is by nature a political animal.”
2. “A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.”
3. “We make war that we may live in peace.”
4. “Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms.”
5. “I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.”
6. “It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace.”
7. “Politicians also have no leisure, because they are always aiming at something beyond political life itself, power and glory, or happiness.”
Aristotle Quotes on Justice
1. “At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.”
2. “The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.”
3. “The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.”
4. “The law is reason, free from passion.”
5. “The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law.”
Aristotle Quotes on Friendship
1. “A friend to all is a friend to none.”
2. “The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend.”
3. “Friendship is essentially a partnership.”
4. “Perfect friendship is the friendship of men who are good, and alike in excellence; for these wish well alike to each other qua good, and they are good in themselves.”
5. “Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.”
6. “My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.”
7. “Our judgments when we are pleased and friendly are not the same as when we are pained and hostile.”
8. “Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.”
9. “Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.”
10. “Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.”
11. “He is his own best friend and takes delight in privacy whereas the man of no virtue or ability is his own worst enemy and is afraid of solitude.”
Aristotle Quotes on Knowledge
1. “All men by nature desire knowledge.”
2. “Learning is not child’s play; we cannot learn without pain.”
3. “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”
4. “The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.”
5. “To attain any assured knowledge about the soul is one of the most difficult things in the world.”
Aristotle Quotes on Character
1. “Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion.”
2. “Quality is not an act, it is a habit.”
3. “You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.”
4. “Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.”
5. “The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons.”
6. “I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.”
7. “Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.”
8. “Jealousy is both reasonable and belongs to reasonable men, while envy is base and belongs to the base, for the one makes himself get good things by jealousy, while the other does not allow his neighbour to have them through envy.”
9. “Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them.”
Philosophical Aristotle Quotes
1. “Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.”
2. “Bring your desires down to your present means. Increase them only when your increased means permit.”
3. “All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire.”
4. “Anybody can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.”
5. “Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.”
6. “Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind.”
7. “We are not angry with people we fear or respect, as long as we fear or respect them; you cannot be afraid of a person and also at the same time angry with him.”
8. “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”
Wisdom Aristotle Quotes
1. “Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.”
2. “Hope is a waking dream.”
3. “Change in all things is sweet.”
4. “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.”
5. “He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader.”
6. “Where your talents and the needs of the world cross, there lies your vocation.”
7. “He who sees things grow from the beginning will have the best view of them.”
8. “The whole is more than the sum of its parts.”
9. “Men are swayed more by fear than by reverence.”
10. “To perceive is to suffer.”
11. “The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think.”
12. “Wise men speak when they have something to say, fools speak because they have to say something.”
These Aristotle quotes reflect his wisdom as he is considered one of the most influential thinkers in Western philosophy. He made significant contributions in a lot of areas, including philosophy, logic, ethics, politics, biology, and metaphysics.
His works were preserved and studied by scholars throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and his ideas are continued to be debated and analyzed by philosophers and scholars to this day.
Which of these Aristotle quotes left an impact on you?
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