Top 25 Quotes by Aristotle of 1272 - Page 28

A friend to all is a friend to none.

Friendship, Fake Friends, Wisdom

Art takes nature as its model.

Art, Creativity, Models

What has soul in it differs from what has not, in that the former displays life. Now this word has more than one sense, and provided any one alone of these is found in a thing we say that thing is living. Living, that is, may mean thinking or perception or local movement and rest, or movement in the sense of nutrition, decay and growth. Hence we think of plants also as living, for they are observed to possess in themselves an originative power through which they increase or decrease in all spatial directions.

Aristotle

Mean, Thinking, Soul

Aristotle (2015). “The Aristotle Collection [50 Books]”, p.1083, Catholic Way Publishing

The activity of God, which is transcendent in blessedness, is the activity of contemplation; and therefore among human activities that which is most akin to the divine activity of contemplation will be the greatest source of happiness.

Aristotle

Happiness, Contemplation, Divine

Aristotle (1934). “The Nicomachean ethics”

A true friend is one soul in two bodies.

Aristotle

True Friend, Two, People

Attributed to Aristotle in Diogenes Laertius "The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers" translated by C. D. Yonge and Henry G. Bohn (p. 188), 1853.

It is possible to fail in many ways . . . while to succeed is possible only in one way (for which reason also one is easy and the other difficult - to miss the mark easy, to hit it difficult).

Aristotle

Failure, Missing, Way

Nichomachean Ethics (c. 330 b.c.).

But nothing is yet clear on the subject of the intellect and the contemplative faculty. However, it seems to be another kind of soul, and this alone admits of being separated, as that which is eternal from that which is perishable, while it is clear from these remarks that the other parts of the soul are not separable, as some assert them to be, though it is obvious that they are conceptually distinct.

Aristotle

Soul, Kind, Faculty

The heart is the perfection of the whole organism. Therefore the principles of the power of perception and the souls ability to nourish itself must lie in the heart.

Aristotle

Lying, Heart, Perfection

Character gives us qualities, but it is in our actions — what we do — that we are happy or the reverse.

Aristotle

Writing, Character, Giving

"On the Art of Poetry".

Whereas young people become accomplished in geometry and mathematics, and wise within these limits, prudent young people do not seem to be found. The reason is that prudence is concerned with particulars as well as universals, and particulars become known from experience, but a young person lacks experience, since some length of time is needed to produce it.

Aristotle

Wise, Knowledge, Learning

Aristotle, Terence Irwin (2000). “Nicomachean Ethics (Second Edition)”, p.93, Hackett Publishing

The energy or active exercise of the mind constitutes life.

Aristotle

Life, Exercise, Science

We must not listen to those who advise us 'being men to think human thoughts, and being mortal to think mortal thoughts' but must put on immortality as much as possible and strain every nerve to live according to that best part of us, which, being small in bulk, yet much more in its power and honour surpasses all else.

Aristotle

Men, Thinking, Nerves

We, on the other hand, must take for granted that the things that exist by nature are, either all or some of them, in motion.

Aristotle

Science, Hands, Granted

Aristotle (2016). “Pocket Aristotle”, p.16, Simon and Schuster

The error of Socrates must be attributed to the false notion of unity from which he starts. Unity there should be, both of the family and of the state, but in some respects only. For there is a point at which a state may attain such a degree of unity as to be no longer a state, or at which, without actually ceasing to exist, it will become an inferior state, like harmony passing into unison, or rhythm which has been reduced to a single foot. The state, as I was saying, is a plurality which should be united and made into a community by education

Aristotle

Errors, Feet, Community

Aristotle (2013). “The Essential Aristotle”, p.250, Simon and Schuster

This much then, is clear: in all our conduct it is the mean that is to be commended.

Aristotle

Mean, Action, Clear

To the size of the state there is a limit, as there is to plants, animals and implements, for none of these retain their facility when they are too large.

Aristotle

Animal, Government, Limits

We make war that we may live in peace.

Aristotle

Strength, Veterans Day, Peace

Nicomachean Ethics bk. 10, 1177b See Vegetius 1

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

Iron, Gold, Pieces

Catholic Way Publishing, Aristotle, Plato (2015). “The Philosophy Collection [97 Books]”, p.1482, Catholic Way Publishing

The continuum is that which is divisible into indivisibles that are infinitely divisible.

Aristotle

Continuum

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.

Aristotle

Science, Lines, Way

Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.

Aristotle

Humor, Examination, Tests

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

Order, Mind, May

Aristotle, Stephen Everson (1996). “Aristotle: The Politics and the Constitution of Athens”, p.122, Cambridge University Press

...the life which is best for men, both separately, as individuals, and in the mass, as states, is the life which has virtue sufficiently supported by material resources to facilitate participation in the actions that virtue calls for.

Aristotle

Men, Politics, Action

The argument of Alcidamas: Everyone honours the wise. Thus the Parians have honoured Archilochus, in spite of his bitter tongue; the Chians Homer, though he was not their countryman; the Mytilenaeans Sappho, though she was a woman; the Lacedaemonians actually made Chilon a member of their senate, though they are the least literary of men; the inhabitants of Lampsacus gave public burial to Anaxagoras, though he was an alien, and honour him even to this day.

Aristotle

Wise, Men, Tongue

Aristotle, (2014). “Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation”, p.2228, Princeton University Press

Our virtues are voluntary (and in fact we are in a sense ourselves partly the cause of our moral dispositions, and it is our having a certain character that makes us set up an end of a certain kind), it follows that our vices are voluntary also; they are voluntary in the same manner as our virtues.

Aristotle

Character, Vices, Causes

Aristotle (1996). “The Nicomachean Ethics”, p.65, Wordsworth Editions

Aristotle Quotes - Page 28

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