40 Excellent Quotes by Aristotle on Life, Education & Politics
Aristotle was a Greek Philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. As Plato’s most famous student, Aristotle spent his time researching and writing on a vast array of topics such as physics, ethics, poetry, aesthetics, theatre, economics and politics. So highly regarded in his time, he was even appointed as the tutor of Alexander the Great by Philip II of Macedon.
That would be a great idea to custom written paper to find more Aristotle’s quotes and more information about this ancient Greek philosopher and polymath.
Clearly, we have a lot to digest from his writings and therefore a lot to learn from. At Turtle Quote we have extracted our favorite Quotes By Aristotle from these workings!
Quotes by Aristotle from ‘Nicomachean Ethics’
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.”
– Quotes by ARISTOTLE, Nicomachean Ethics – Book I
“The life of money-making is one undertaken under compulsion, and wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else.”
– QUOTES BY ARISTOTLE, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS – BOOK I
“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.”
– ARISTOTLE, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS – BOOK I
“Let this serve as an outline of the good; for we must presumably first sketch it roughly, and then later fill in the details.”
– ARISTOTLE, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS – BOOK I
“Everything that depends on the action of nature is by nature as good as it can be.”
– ARISTOTLE, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS – BOOK I
“The truly good and wise man will bear all kinds of fortune in a seemly way, and will always act in the noblest manner that the circumstances allow.”
– ARISTOTLE, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS – BOOK I
“For the things we have to learn before we can do, we learn by doing.”
– QUOTES BY ARISTOTLE, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS – BOOK I
“In a word, acts of any kind produce habits or characters of the same kind.”
– QUOTES BY ARISTOTLE, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS – BOOK II
“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, for the right purpose, and in the right way, that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.”
– ARISTOTLE, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS – BOOK II (Variant)
“We must as second best, as people say, take the least of the evils.”
– ARISTOTLE, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS – BOOK II
“Therefore only an utterly senseless person can fail to know that our characters are the result of our conduct.”
– ARISTOTLE, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS – BOOK III
“Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.”
– ARISTOTLE, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS – BOOK VIII
“The best friend is he that, when he wishes a person’s good, wishes it for that person’s own sake.”
– ARISTOTLE, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS – BOOK ix
“And 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.”
– QUOTES BY ARISTOTLE, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS – BOOK X
Quotes by Aristotle on Life
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
ARISTOTLE
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
ARISTOTLE
“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”
ARISTOTLE
“Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach.”
ARISTOTLE
“Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.”
ARISTOTLE
Quotes by Aristotle From ‘Politics’
“Man is by nature a political animal.”
– QUOTES BY ARISTOTLE, Politics – Book I
“Nature does nothing uselessly.”
– ARISTOTLE, POLITICS – BOOK I
“Where some people are very wealthy and others have nothing, the result will be either extreme democracy or absolute oligarchy, or despotism will come from either of those excesses.”
– ARISTOTLE, POLITICS – BOOK I
“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.”
– ARISTOTLE, POLITICS – BOOK I
“Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all.”
– QUOTES BY ARISTOTLE, – BOOK I
“Money was intended to be used in exchange, but not to increase at interest. And this term interest, which means the birth of money from money, is applied to the breeding of money because the offspring resembles the parent. Wherefore of all modes of getting wealth this is the most unnatural.”
– ARISTOTLE, POLITICS – BOOK I
“It is of the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it.”
– ARISTOTLE, POLITICS – BOOK II
“Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered.”
– ARISTOTLE, POLITICS – BOOK II
“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, POLITICS – BOOK II
“The good citizen need not of necessity possess the virtue which makes a good man.”
– QUOTES BY ARISTOTLE, POLITICS – BOOK III
“The law is reason unaffected by desire.”
– ARISTOTLE, POLITICS – BOOK III
“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, POLITICS – BOOK V
“The basis of a democratic state is liberty.”
– ARISTOTLE, POLITICS – BOOK Vi
“The appropriate age for marriage is around eighteen for girls and thirty-seven for men.” (We wonder if this one was supposed to be humorous!)
– ARISTOTLE, POLITICS – BOOK VII
“Happiness, whether consisting in pleasure or virtue, or both, is more often found with those who are highly cultivated in their minds and in their character, and have only a moderate share of external goods, than among those who possess external goods to a useless extent but are deficient in higher qualities.”
– ARISTOTLE, POLITICS – BOOK VIi
“Those who cannot face danger like men are the slaves of any invader.”
– ARISTOTLE, POLITICS – BOOK VII
Quotes by Aristotle From Various Works
“Knowledge of the fact differs from knowledge of the reason for the fact.”
– Aristotle, Posterior Analytics – Part XIII
“All men by nature desire to know.”
– ARISTOTLE, Metaphysics – Book I
“It is simplicity that makes the uneducated more effective than the educated when addressing popular audiences.”
– ARISTOTLE, Rhetoric – Book II
“Poetry demands a man with a special gift for it, or else one with a touch of madness in him.”
– ARISTOTLE, Poetics
“The roots of education … are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.”
– QUOTES BY ARISTOTLE, The lives and Opinion of Eminent Philosophers
Quotes Frequently Misattributed to Aristotle
- “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
This is actually a summation of Aristotle’s ideas by Will Durant.
- “There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing and be nothing.”
Instead from Elbert Hubbards’, “Little Journeys to the homes of American Statesmen”
- “Those who can, do, those who cannot, teach”
The origin of this quote is unclear but we were unable to find it in any of Aristotle’s texts.
We hope that you enjoyed our selection of Quotes by Aristotle! Perhaps you would also enjoy our collection from Leonardo da Vinci or even from one of his students, Alexander the Great!
