Quotes by Aristotle

About Aristotle:

Aristotle is in his debt."
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself.

Aristotle

Those who wish even to focus on the problem of a Christian ethic are faced with an outrageous demand-from the outset they must give up, as inappropriate to this topic, the very two questions that led them to deal with the ethical problem: 'How can I ...

Aristotle

The task is not to turn the world upside down but in a given place to do what, from the perspecive of reality, is necessary objectively and to really carry it out.

Aristotle

Those who wish to seek out the cause of miracles and to understand the things of nature as philosophers, and not to stare at them in astonishment like fools, are soon considered heretical and impious, and proclaimed as such by those whom the mob ador...

Aristotle

Principles are only tools in the hands of God; they will soon be thrown away when they are no longer useful.

Aristotle

The figure of the crucified invalidates all thought which takes success for its standard.

Aristotle

A father acts on behalf of his children by working, providing, intervening, struggling, and suffering for them. In so doing, he really stands in their place. He is not an isolated individual, but incorporates the selves of several people in his own s...

Aristotle

The superstitious know how to reproach people for their vices better than they know how to teach them virtues, and they strive, not to guide men by reason, but to restrain them by fear, so that they flee the evil rather than love virtues. Such people...

Aristotle

The limitation of the ethical phenomenon to its place and time does not imply its rejection but, on the contrary, its validation. One does not use canons to shoot sparrows.

Aristotle

Minds, however, are conquered not by arms, but by love and nobility.

Aristotle

What is worse than doing evil, is being evil” (Ethics, p.67). To lie is wrong, but what is worse than the lie is the liar, for the liar contaminates everything he says, because everything he says is meant to further a cause that is false. The liar ...

Aristotle

It is the part of a wise man, I say, to refresh and restore himself in moderation with pleasant food and drink, with scents, with the beauty of green plants, with decoration, music, sports, the theater, and other things of this kind, which anyone can...

Aristotle

I should attempt to treat human vice and folly geometrically... the passions of hatred, anger, envy, and so on, considered in themselves, follow from the necessity and efficacy of nature... I shall, therefore, treat the nature and strength of the emo...

Aristotle

Political action means taking on responsibility. This cannot happen without power. Power is to serve responsibility.

Aristotle

Just as God's love entered the world, thereby submitting to the misunderstanding and ambiguity that characterize everything worldly, so also Christian love does not exist anywhere but in the worldly, in an infinite variety of concrete worldly action,...

Aristotle

The Christian life is participation in the encounter of Christ with the world.

Aristotle

Education is the best provision for old age.

Aristotle

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

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

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

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

Aristotle

Author Bio

  • NameAristotle
  • DescriptionClassical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
  • AliasesAristoteles
  • Born384 BCE
  • Died322 BCE
  • CountryClassical Athens
  • ProfessionMetaphysician; Biologist; Cosmologist; Logician; Zoologist; Literary Critic; Mathematician; Ethicist; Epistemologist; Political Philosopher; Polymath; Philosopher Of Language