Best 234 Aristotle Quotes as an Invaluable Legacy of Thought
We would probably call Aristotle a “Renaissance Man” if he hadn’t been born in the 4th century BC, so long before the Renaissance Era. This Greek philosopher and polymath, whose views on physical science profoundly shaped medieval scholarship, wrote about a wide range of subjects including physics, biology, metaphysics, logic, psychology, linguistics, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theatre, music, zoology, rhetoric, economics, politics, and government. Taught by Plato himself, he left a great heritage to the West though his intellectual lexicon, as well as problems and methods of inquiry. As a result, his philosophy continues to be a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion, as it exerted a unique influence on almost every form of knowledge in the West. Last but not least, his ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics.
Having said all that it’s no wonder that Aristotle’s words still reverberate today, more than 2000 years after he lived in Ancient Greece. This carefully curated collection of quotes showcases his invaluable legacy.
Table of Contents
- Short Aristotle Quotes
- Aristotle Quotes on Life
- Aristotle Inspirational Quotes
- Aristotle Quotes on Education
- Aristotle Friendship Quotes
- Aristotle Famous Quotes
- Aristotle Quotes on Poetry and Drama
- Aristotle Quotes on Politics
- Aristotle Quotes on Ethics
Short Aristotle Quotes
- Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. Aristotle
- Wise men speak when they have something to say, fools speak because they have to say something. Aristotle
- Quality is not an act, it is a habit. Aristotle
- We are what we repeatedly do. Aristotle
- Hope is the dream of a waking man. Aristotle
- Man is by his own nature a political being. Aristotle
- Anyone who has no need of anybody but himself is either a beast or a God. Aristotle
- Choice, not chance, determines your destiny. Aristotle
- The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Aristotle
- Memory is the scribe of the soul. Aristotle
- No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness. Aristotle
- There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing. Aristotle
- The first principle of all action is leisure. Aristotle
- Through discipline comes freedom. Aristotle
- They who love in excess also hate in excess. Aristotle
- Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope. Aristotle
- The beginning seems to be more than half of the whole. Aristotle
- It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. Aristotle
- Nature does nothing uselessly. Aristotle
- The Law is Reason free from Passion. Aristotle
- Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. Aristotle
- The secret to humor is surprise. Aristotle
- Change in all things is sweet. Aristotle
- Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. Aristotle
- The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think. Aristotle
- It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims. Aristotle
- Happiness is a state of activity. Aristotle
- He who had never learned to obey cannot be a good leader. Aristotle
- There is a foolish corner in the brain of the wisest man. Aristotle
- Whatever lies within our power to do lies also within our power not to do. Aristotle
- Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil. Aristotle
- Happiness depends upon ourselves. Aristotle
- Poverty needs many things, but greed everything. Aristotle
- Plants exist for the sake of animals and animals for the sake of men. Aristotle
- Beauty is better than any recommendation letter. Aristotle
- War is a school for virtue. Aristotle
- Each art must use its tools, each body its soul. Aristotle
- Only the cunning needs excuses. Aristotle
- No one likes one whom he fears. Aristotle
- Before a crowd, the ignorant are more persuasive than the educated. Aristotle
- Nothing is without a cause. Aristotle
- Experience created the art but inexperience created the luck. Aristotle
- A man without regrets cannot be cured. Aristotle
- The noblest expenditure is that which is made in the Divine Service. Aristotle
- All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind. Aristotle
- Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime. Aristotle
- Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion. Aristotle
- Evil brings men together. Aristotle
- Good habits formed at youth make all the difference. Aristotle
- Great men are always of a nature originally melancholy. Aristotle
- He who has overcome his fears will truly be free. Aristotle
- In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous. Aristotle
- The greater the number of owners, the less the respect for common property. Aristotle
- It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen. Aristotle
- It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace. Aristotle
- It’s the fastest who gets paid, and it’s the fastest who gets laid. Aristotle
- Men cannot know each other till they have ‘eaten salt together’. Aristotle
- Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. Aristotle
- In all things, change is sweet. Aristotle
- What soon grows old? Favor. Aristotle
- Those who cannot face danger like men become the slaves of any invader. Aristotle
- The hand is the instrument of instruments. Aristotle
- The secret of business is to know something that nobody else knows. Aristotle
- Virtue consists more in doing good than refraining from evil. Aristotle
- The value of life lies in the power of contemplation and not mere survival. Aristotle
- The end of labor is to gain leisure. Aristotle
- The gods too are fond of a joke. Aristotle
- Men are swayed more by fear than by reverence. Aristotle
- The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons. Aristotle
- Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved. Aristotle
- Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth. Aristotle
- Reason is a light that God has kindled in the soul. Aristotle
- The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain. Aristotle
- The guest will judge better of a feast than the cook. Aristotle
- The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold. Aristotle
- The man who does not enjoy doing noble actions is not a good man at all. Aristotle
- All virtue is summed up in dealing justly. Aristotle
- To perceive is to suffer. Aristotle
- Wit is educated insolence. Aristotle
- Philosophy is the science which considers truth. Aristotle
- The best way to teach morality is to make it a habit with children. Aristotle
- The soul never thinks without a mental picture. Aristotle
- We must be neither cowardly nor rash but courageous. Aristotle
- Where your talents and the needs of the world cross, there lies your vocation. Aristotle
Aristotle Quotes on Life
- The energy of the mind is the essence of life. Aristotle
- Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient. Aristotle
- The happy life is thought to be one of excellence; an excellent life requires exertion and does not consist in amusement. Aristotle
- The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival. Aristotle
- The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances. Aristotle
- The quality of life is determined by its activities. Aristotle
- There are three lines of life which stand out prominently to view: the life of sensual enjoyment, the life in society, and the life of contemplation. Aristotle
- It is of the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it. Aristotle
- Young people are in a condition like permanent intoxication, because life is sweet and they are growing. Aristotle
- It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken. Aristotle
- 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. Aristotle
- The good of man is a working of the soul in the way of excellence in a complete life. Aristotle
- Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence. Aristotle
- Happiness is a quality of the soul…not a function of one’s material circumstances. Aristotle
- The human life is governed by nature and laws. Aristotle
- Happiness is the highest good, being a realization and perfect practice of virtue. Aristotle
Aristotle Inspirational Quotes
- Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution. Aristotle
- Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others. Aristotle
- I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self. Aristotle
- Shall we not, like archers who have a mark to aim at, be more likely to hit upon what is right? Aristotle
- It is rather the case that we desire something because we believe it to be good than that we believe a thing to be good because we desire it. It is the thought that starts things off. Aristotle
- Even that some people try deceived me many times… I will not fail to believe that somewhere, someone deserves my trust. Aristotle
- Justice is the loveliest and health is the best, but the sweetest to obtain is the heart’s desire. Aristotle
- Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. Aristotle
- All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right, and not what is established. Aristotle
- Man is a goal-seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals. Aristotle
- If you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development. Aristotle
- 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. Aristotle
- The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another, not because he does not feel them, but because he is a man of high and heroic temper. Aristotle
- It is impossible that there should be demonstration of absolutely everything; for then there would be an infinite regress, so that there would still be no demonstration. Aristotle
Aristotle Quotes on Education
- Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all. Aristotle
- Learning is an ornament in prosperity, a refuge in adversity, and a provision in old age. Aristotle
- Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well. Aristotle
- The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. Aristotle
- All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth. Aristotle
- Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach. Aristotle
- It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Aristotle
- One must learn by doing the thing, for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try. Aristotle
- All men by nature desire to know. Aristotle
- Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way… you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions. Aristotle
- The pleasures arising from thinking and learning will make us think and learn all the more. Aristotle
- The cultivation of the intellect is man’s highest good and purest happiness. Aristotle
- We learn an art or craft by doing the things that we shall have to do when we have learnt it. Aristotle
- Knowledge of the fact differs from knowledge of the reason for the fact. Aristotle
- The deficiencies of nature are what art and education seek to fill up. Aristotle
- Learning is not child’s play; we cannot learn without pain. Aristotle
- Education needs these three: natural endowment, study, practice. Aristotle
- It is the mark of an educated man to look for precision in each class of things just so far as the nature of the subject admits; it is evidently equally foolish to accept probable reasoning from a mathematician and to demand from a rhetorician scientific proof. Aristotle
Aristotle Friendship Quotes
- We should behave to our friends as we would wish our friends behave to us. Aristotle
- What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. Aristotle
- Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit. Aristotle
- A friend to all is a friend to none. Aristotle
- The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend. Aristotle
- Without friends, no one would want to live, even if he had all other goods. Aristotle
- Misfortune shows those who are not really friends. Aristotle
- The best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake. Aristotle
- A friend is a second self, so that our consciousness of a friend’s existence…makes us more fully conscious of our own existence. Aristotle
- In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge. The young they keep out of mischief; to the old they are a comfort and aid in their weakness, and those in the prime of life they incite to noble deeds. Aristotle
- Perfect friendship is the friendship of men who are good, and alike in excellence. Aristotle
- Distance does not break off the friendship absolutely, but only the activity of it. Aristotle
- When people are friends, they have no need of justice, but when they are just, they do need friendship in addition; and in the realm of the just things, the most just seems to be what involves friendship. Aristotle
- Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends. Aristotle
- Friendship is essentially a partnership. Aristotle
Aristotle Famous Quotes
- The more you know, the more you know you don’t know. Aristotle
- Habit is second nature. Aristotle
- Well begun is half done. Aristotle
- Anybody can become angry — that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way — that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy. Aristotle
- 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. Aristotle
- If things do not turn out as we wish, we should wish for them as they turn out. Aristotle
- Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities. Aristotle
- The intention makes the crime. Aristotle
- All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire. Aristotle
- Don’t ask who is now, but who he has always been. Aristotle
- I have gained this by philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law. Aristotle
- All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore, Socrates is mortal. Aristotle
- One swallow does not make a summer, neither does one fine day; similarly, one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy. Aristotle
- 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. Aristotle
- Everything that depends on the action of nature is by nature as good as it can be. Aristotle
- Inferiors revolt in order that they may be equal and equals that they may be superior. Such is the state of mind which creates revolutions. Aristotle
- That judges of important causes should hold office for life is a disputable thing, for the mind grows old as well as the body. Aristotle
- Proverbs are the remnants of old philosophy preserved due to their brevity and smartness. Aristotle
- 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. Aristotle
- Men create gods after their own image, not only with regard to their form but with regard to their mode of life. Aristotle
- The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom. Aristotle
- The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently; but he is willing, in great crises, to give even his life – knowing that under certain conditions it is not worthwhile to live. Aristotle
- Those who excel in virtue have the best right of all to rebel, but then they are of all men the least inclined to do so. Aristotle
- Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them. Aristotle
- Bashfulness is an ornament to youth, but a reproach to old age. Aristotle
- Bring your desires down to your present means. Increase them only when your increased means permit. Aristotle
- He who can be, and therefore is, another’s, and he who participates in reason enough to apprehend, but not to have, is a slave by nature. Aristotle
- What affirmation and denial are in the case of thinking, pursuit and avoidance are in the case of longing for something. Aristotle
- It is not once nor twice but times without number that the same ideas make their appearance in the world. Aristotle
- Jealousy is both reasonable and belongs to reasonable men, while envy is base and belongs to the base, for the one makes himself get good things by jealousy, while the other does not allow his neighbor to have them through envy. 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
- Most people would rather give than get affection. Aristotle
- If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is nature’s way. Aristotle
- If happiness is activity in accordance with excellence, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest excellence. Aristotle
- 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. Aristotle
- Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit. Aristotle
- For it is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and at first began to philosophize. Aristotle
- Time crumbles things; everything grows old under the power of Time and is forgotten through the lapse of Time. Aristotle
- It is absurd to hold that a man should be ashamed of an inability to defend himself with his limbs, but not ashamed of an inability to defend himself with speech and reason; for the use of rational speech is more distinctive of a human being than the use of his limbs. Aristotle
- It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom. Aristotle
- It is their character indeed that makes people who they are. But it is by reason of their actions that they are happy or the reverse. Aristotle
- 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. Aristotle
Aristotle Quotes on Poetry and Drama
- Comedy aims at representing men as worse, Tragedy as better than in actual life. Aristotle
- Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular. Aristotle
- PLOT is CHARACTER revealed by ACTION. Aristotle
- The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. Aristotle
- Poetry is for an intelligent man or a madman. Aristotle
- Homer has taught all other poets the art of telling lies skillfully. Aristotle
- Tragedy is an imitation not only of a complete action, but also of incidents arousing pity and fear. Aristotle
- Every tragedy falls into two parts, Complication and Unravelling or Denouement. Aristotle
- Those who assert that the mathematical sciences say nothing of the beautiful or the good are in error… The chief forms of beauty are order and symmetry and definiteness, which the mathematical sciences demonstrate in a special degree. Aristotle
- The laughable is a species of what is disgraceful. Aristotle
- The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor; it is a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity in the dissimilar. Aristotle
- To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man. Aristotle
- A poet must be a composer of plots rather than of verses. Aristotle
- Therefore, even the lover of myth is a philosopher; for myth is composed of wonder. Aristotle
- Comedy has had no history, because it was not at first treated seriously. Aristotle
- 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. Aristotle
- Identity exists where the Complication and Unravelling are the same. Aristotle
- For what were the business of a speaker, if the Thought were revealed quite apart from what he says? Aristotle
Aristotle Quotes on Politics
- Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal. Aristotle
- The good of the individual by himself is certainly desirable enough, but that of a nation and of cities is nobler and more divine. Aristotle
- The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law. Aristotle
- Correct habituation distinguishes a good political system from a bad one. Aristotle
- Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms. Aristotle
- There is no difference between not having laws and not following the laws. Aristotle
- The best form of government is the one in which every man, whoever he is, can act best and live happily. Aristotle
- Political society exists for the sake of noble actions, and not of mere companionship. Aristotle
- It is in the interests of the tyrant to make his subjects poor… the people are so occupied with their daily tasks that they have no time for rebellion. Aristotle
- Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. Aristotle
- The weak are always anxious for justice and equality. The strong pay no heed to either. Aristotle
- The many are more incorruptible than the few; they are like the greater quantity of water which is less easily corrupted than a little. Aristotle
- The most perfect political community is one in which the middle class is in control and outnumbers both of the other classes. Aristotle
- Where the laws are not sovereign, there you find demagogues. Aristotle
- It is more proper that law should govern than any one of the citizens. Aristotle
- The basis of a democratic state is liberty. 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
- The easy alteration of existing laws in favor of new and different ones weakens the power of law itself. Aristotle
- Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered. Aristotle
- Democracy is the least bad of the deviations. Aristotle
- A multitude is a better judge of many things than any individual. Aristotle
- Inequality is everywhere at the bottom of faction, for in general faction arises from men’s striving for what is equal. Aristotle
- 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. Aristotle
- Justice is the bond of men in states, for the administration of justice is the principle of order in political society. Aristotle
Aristotle Quotes on Ethics
- To die to escape from poverty or love or anything painful is not the mark of a brave man, but rather of a coward. Aristotle
- To seek for utility everywhere is entirely unsuited to men that are great-souled and free. Aristotle
- Without virtue, man is most unholy and savage, and worst in regard to sex and eating. Aristotle
- Of moral states to be avoided there are three kinds: malice, incontinence, bestiality. Aristotle
- Good cannot be a single and universal general notion; if it were, it would not be predictable in all the categories, but only in one. Aristotle
- The young man is not a fit student of Moral Philosophy, for he has no experience in the actions of life. Aristotle
- What makes a man a ‘sophist’ is not his faculty, but his moral purpose. Aristotle
- Good character is the indispensable condition and chief determinant of happiness, itself the goal of all human doing. Aristotle
- Character is that which reveals moral purpose, showing what kind of things a man chooses or avoids. Aristotle
- Wisdom or intelligence and prudence are intellectual, liberality and temperance are moral virtues. Aristotle
- Man’s work as Man is accomplished by virtue of Practical Wisdom and Moral Virtue, the latter giving the right aim and direction, the former the right means to its attainment. Aristotle
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