Inspiring Quotes by Aristotle
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In the human species at all events there is a great diversity of pleasures. The same things delight some men and annoy others, and things painful and disgusting to some are pleasant and attractive to others.

No democracy can exist unless each of its citizens is as capable of outrage at injustice to another as he is of outrage at unjustice to himself.

We are what we do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.

In inventing a model we may assume what we wish, but should avoid impossibilities.

For the real difference between humans and other animals is that humans alone have perception of good and evil, just and unjust, etc. It is the sharing of a common view in these matters that makes a household and a state.

Accordingly, the poet should prefer probable impossibilities to improbable possibilities. The tragic plot must not be composed of irrational parts.

That which is impossible and probable is better than that which is possible and improbable.

A line is not made up of points. ... In the same way, time is not made up parts considered as indivisible 'nows.' Part of Aristotle's reply to Zeno's paradox concerning continuity.

He who takes his fill of every pleasure ... becomes depraved; while he who avoids all pleasures alike ... becomes insensible.

The vigorous are no better than the lazy during one half of life, for all men are alike when asleep.

Money was established for exchange, but interest causes it to be reproduced by itself. Therefore this way of earning money is greatly in conflict with the natural law.

Greed has no boundaries.

The greater the length, the more beautiful will the piece be by reason of its size, provided that the whole be perspicuous. (VII).

Friends are an aid to the young, to guard them from error; to the elderly, to attend to their wants and to supplement their failing power of action; to those in the prime of life, to assist them to noble deeds.

Good moral character is not something that we can achieve on our own. We need a culture that supports the conditions under which self-love and friendship flourish.

Obstinate people can be divided into the opinionated, the ignorant, and the boorish.

How many a dispute could have been deflated into a single paragraph if the disputants had dared to define their terms.

But is it just then that the few and the wealthy should be the rulers? And what if they, in like manner, rob and plunder the people, -- is this just?

That in the soul which is called the mind is, before it thinks, not actually any real thing.

Every rascal is not a thief, but every thief is a rascal.

The quality of life is determined by its activities.

For well-being and health, again, the homestead should be airy in summer, and sunny in winter. A homestead possessing these qualities would be longer than it is deep; and its main front would face the south.

That the equalization of property exercises an influence on political society was clearly understood even by some of the old legislators. Laws were made by Solon and others prohibiting an individual from possessing as much land as he pleased.

And it is characteristic of man that he alone has any sense of good and evil, of just and unjust, and the like, and the association of living beings who have this sense makes family and a state.

We may assume the superiority ceteris paribus of the demonstration which derives from fewer postulates or hypotheses -- in short, from fewer premises.

All proofs rest on premises.

People of superior refinement and of active disposition identify happiness with honour; for this is roughly speaking, the end of political life.

With respect to the requirement of art, the probable impossible is always preferable to the improbable possible.

It is a part of probability that many improbable things will happen.

The happy man ... will be always or at least most often employed in doing and contemplating the things that are in conformity with virtue. And he will bear changes of fortunes most nobly, and with perfect propriety in every way.

There is no such thing as committing adultery with the right woman, at the right time, and in the right way, for it is simply WRONG.

Equality is of two kinds, numerical and proportional; by the first I mean sameness of equality in number or size; by the second, equality of ratios.

In educating the young we steer them by the rudders of pleasure and pain.

Intuition is the source of scientific knowledge.

A life of wealth and many belongings is only a means to happiness. Honor, power, and success cannot be happiness because they depend on the whims of others, and happiness should be self-contained, complete in itself.

The so-called Pythagoreans, who were the first to take up mathematics, not only advanced this subject, but saturated with it, they fancied that the principles of mathematics were the principles of all things.

Education and morals make the good man, the good statesman, the good ruler.

The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor; it is the one thing that cannot be learned from others; and it is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity of the dissimilar.

Self-sufficiency is both a good and an absolute good.

Happiness, then, is found to be something perfect and self-sufficient, being the end to which our actions are directed.

Both Self-restraint and Unrestraint are a matter of extremes as compared with the character of the mass of mankind; the restrained man shows more and the unrestrained man less steadfastness than most men are capable of.

This body is not a home, but an inn; and that only for a short time. Seneca Friendship is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.

Neither old people nor sour people seem to make friends easily; for there is little that is pleasant in them.

Be a free thinker and don't accept everything you hear as truth. Be critical and evaluate what you believe in.

There is also a doubt as to what is to be the supreme power in the state: -- Is it the multitude? Or the wealthy? Or the good? Or the one best man? Or a tyrant?

Cruel is the strife of brothers.

Purpose ... is held to be most closely connected with virtue, and to be a better token of our character than are even our acts.

Let us be well persuaded that everyone of us possesses happiness in proportion to his virtue and wisdom, and according as he acts in obedience to their suggestion.

In revolutions the occasions may be trifling but great interest are at stake.

If, however, the poetic end might have been as well or better attained without sacrifice of technical correctness in such matters, the impossibility is not to be justified, since the description should be, if it can, entirely free from error.

Criticism is something we can avoid easily
by saying nothing, doing nothing,
and being nothing.

The true nature of anything is what it becomes at its highest.

The only way to achieve true success is to express yourself completely in service to society.

It is true, indeed, that the account Plato gives in 'Timaeus' is different from what he says in his so-called 'unwritten teachings.'

The guest will judge better of a feast than the cook.

The line between lawful and unlawful abortion will be marked by the fact of having sensation and being alive.

To Unlearn is as hard as to Learn.

for desire is like a wild beast, and anger perverts rulers and the very best of men. Hence law is intelligence without appetition.

Wise people have an inward sense of what is beautiful, and the highest wisdom is to trust this intuition and be guided by it.

In cases of this sort, let us say adultery, rightness and wrongness do not depend on committing it with the right woman at the right time and in the right manner, but the mere fact of committing such action at all is to do wrong.

One kind of justice is that which is manifested in distributions of honour or money or the other things that fall to be divided among those who have a share in the constitution ... and another kind is that which plays a rectifying part in transactions.

Find the good. Seek the Unity. Ignore the divisions among us.

The Law is Reason free from Passion.

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation.

Political society exists for the sake of noble actions, and not of mere companionship.

Death is evil. So the gods decided.
Otherwise they would die.

Anyone who has no need of anybody but himself is either a beast or a God.

When Simonides was discussing wisdom and riches with Hieron's wife, and she asked him which was better, to become wise or to become wealthy, he replied, 'To become wealthy. For I see the wise sitting on the doorsteps of the rich.

Any polis which is truly so called, and is not merely one in name, must devote itself to the end of encouraging goodness. Otherwise, political association sinks into a mere alliance.

Happiness is the settling of the soul into its most appropriate spot.

There is honor in being a dog.

All teaching and all intellectual learning come about from already existing knowledge.

If some animals are good at hunting and others are suitable for hunting, then the Gods must clearly smile on hunting.

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

Happiness is thought to depend on leisure; for we are busy that we may have leisure, and make war that we may live in peace.

The complete man must work, study and wrestle.

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.

The coward calls the brave man rash, the rash man calls him a coward.

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.