Quotes By Aristotle

A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side.

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.

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.

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

Bring your desires down to your present means. Increase them only when your increased means permit.

The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently; but he is willing, in great crises, to give even his life - knowing that under certain conditions it is not worthwhile to live.

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

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

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.

Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion.

All men by nature desire knowledge.

In making a speech one must study three points: first, the means of producing persuasion; second, the language; third the proper arrangement of the various parts of the speech.

Jealousy is both reasonable and belongs to reasonable men, while envy is base and belongs to the base, for the one makes himself get good things by jealousy, while the other does not allow his neighbour to have them through envy.

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

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.

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

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

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

We praise a man who feels angry on the right grounds and against the right persons and also in the right manner at the right moment and for the right length of time.

It is just that we should be grateful, not only to those with whose views we may agree, but also to those who have expressed more superficial views; for these also contributed something, by developing before us the powers of thought.

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.

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.

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

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.

Temperance is a mean with regard to pleasures.

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.

The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons.

The law is reason, free from passion.

Hence poetry is something more philosophic and of graver import than history, since its statements are rather of the nature of universals, whereas those of history are singulars.

Hope is the dream of a waking man.