Inspiring Quotes by Aristotle - Page 2

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"There is no great genius without a mixture of madness"

"Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms"

"Men are swayed more by fear than by reverence"

"Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved"

"It is not once nor twice but times without number that the same ideas make their appearance in the world"

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

"I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self"

"Hope is the dream of a waking man"

"Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach"

"The law is reason, free from passion"

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

"Bring your desires down to your present means. Increase them only when your increased means permit"

"A constitution is the arrangement of magistracies in a state"

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

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

"He who hath many friends hath none"

"Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them"

"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"

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

"Courage is a mean with regard to fear and confidence"

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

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

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

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

"All men by nature desire knowledge"

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

"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"

"A true friend is one soul in two bodies"

"A tragedy is a representation of an action that is whole and complete and of a certain magnitude. A whole is what has a beginning and middle and end"

"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"

"Change in all things is sweet"

"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"

"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"

"All virtue is summed up in dealing justly"

"Bad men are full of repentance"

"The energy of the mind is the essence of life"

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

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

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

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

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

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

"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"

"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"

"No one would choose a friendless existence on condition of having all the other things in the world"

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

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

"Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends"

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

"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"

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