A

Aristotle

97 quotes

Aristotle (384–322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher and polymath whose writings covered an enormous range of subjects including physics, biology, logic, ethics, and politics. A student of Plato, he went on to tutor Alexander the Great. His ideas on logic and scientific method laid the groundwork for much of Western intellectual tradition.

“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

Best

All Quotes by Aristotle

“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.”

— Aristotle

Nature

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

— Aristotle

Nature

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

— Aristotle

Knowledge

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

— Aristotle

Life

“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

Life

“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.”

— Aristotle

Death

“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.”

— Aristotle

Power

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

— Aristotle

Education

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

— Aristotle

Friendship

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

— Aristotle

Friendship

“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

Time

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

— Aristotle

Nature

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

— Aristotle

Courage

“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

God

“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

Nature

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

— Aristotle

Art

“Hope is the dream of a waking man.”

— Aristotle

Hope

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

— Aristotle

Truth

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

— Aristotle

Great

“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.”

— Aristotle

Fear