Quotes & anectdotes from
the wise,
the foolish,
the courageous &
the drunk

Aristotle Philosopher

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: Greece
  • Born: 384 BCE
  • Died: 322 BCE

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist born in the Macedonian city of Stagirus, in 384 BCE. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, whereafter Proxenus of Atarneus became his guardian. At eighteen, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven. His writings cover many subjects – including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theater, music, rhetoric, linguistics, politics and government – and constitute the first comprehensive system of Western philosophy. Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip of Macedon, tutored Alexander the Great between 356 and 323 BCE. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "Aristotle was the first genuine scientist in history ... [and] every scientist is in his debt."

Teaching Alexander the Great gave Aristotle many opportunities and an abundance of supplies. He established a library in the Lyceum which aided in the production of many of his hundreds of books.

Bad men are full of repentance.

Quality is not an act, it is a habit.

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

Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.

Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.

The state comes into existence for the sake of life and continues to exist for the sake of good life.

Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.

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

For though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first.

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.

Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.

All men by nature desire knowledge.

Hope is the dream of a waking man.

Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.

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.

Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.

The energy of the mind is the essence of life.

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

The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.

Happiness depends upon ourselves.

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

Man is by nature a political animal.

Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

It is Homer who has chiefly taught other poets the art of telling lies skillfully.

Wit is educated insolence.

The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.

You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.

It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken.

What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.

Change in all things is sweet.

The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.

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

It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.

Nature does nothing in vain.

There is no great genius without a mixture of madness.

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.

Hope is a waking dream.

Men are swayed more by fear than by reverence.

Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.

The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.

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

Friendship is essentially a partnership.

The secret to humor is surprise.

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

At his best, man is the noblest of all animals separated from law and justice he is the worst.

Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.

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

For one swallow does not make a summer, nor does one day and so too one day, or a short time, does not make a man blessed and happy.

He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.

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

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

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

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.

A friend to all is a friend to none.

Education is the best provision for old age.

Men create gods after their own image, not only with regard to their form but with regard to their mode of life.

A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.

For as the eyes of bats are to the blaze of day, so is the reason in our soul to the things which are by nature most evident of all.

Courage is a mean with regard to fear and confidence.

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

Bashfulness is an ornament to youth, but a reproach to old age.

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

If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is nature's way.

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

He who hath many friends hath none.

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

Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.

We make war that we may live in peace.

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.

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

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