Aristotle Quotes - Page 46

• Again, it is possible to fail in many ways (for evil belongs to the class of the unlimited and good to that of the limited), 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); for these reasons also, then, excess and defect are characteristic of vice, and the mean of virtue; For men are good in but one way, but bad in many.

  Aristotle

  Mean, Men, Class

  Aristotle, (2014). “Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation”, p.1748, Princeton University Press

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• The form of government is a democracy when the free, who are also poor and the majority, govern, and an oligarchy when the rich and the noble govern, they being at the same time few in number.

  Aristotle

  Government, Numbers, Democracy

  Aristotle, (2016). “Aristotle's Politics: Writings from the Complete Works: Politics, Economics, Constitution of Athens”, p.98, Princeton University Press

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• Those who believe that all virtue is to be found in their own party principles push matters to extremes; they do not consider that disproportion destroys a state.

  Aristotle

  Party, Believe, Matter

  Aristotle (2016). “Politics”, p.184, Aristotle

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• Yet the true friend of the people should see that they be not too poor, for extreme povery lowers the character of the democracy; measures therefore should be taken which will give them lasting prosperity; and as this is equally the interest of all classes, the proceeds of the public revenues should be accumulated and distributed among its poor, if possible, in such quantities as may enable them to purchase a little farm, or, at any rate, make a beginning in trade or husbandry.

  Aristotle

  True Friend, Taken, Character

  Aristotle, William David Ross (1955). “Works”

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• [Prudence] is the virtue of that part of the intellect [the calculative] to which it belongs; and . . . our choice of actions will not be right without Prudence any more than without Moral Virtue, since, while Moral Virtue enables us to achieve the end, Prudence makes us adopt the right means to the end.

  Aristotle

  Mean, Choices, Moral

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• Happiness seems to require a modicum of external prosperity.

  Aristotle

  Prosperity, Seems

  Aristotle (1953). “Ethics: The Nicomachean Ethics”

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• If a man of good natural disposition acquires Intelligence [as a whole], then he excels in conduct, and the disposition which previously only resembled Virtue, will now be Virtue in the true sense. Hence just as with the faculty of forming opinions [the calculative faculty] there are two qualities, Cleverness and Prudence, so also in the moral part of the soul there are two qualities, natural virtue and true Virtue; and true Virtue cannot exist without Prudence.

  Aristotle

  Men, Two, Soul

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• Quite often good things have hurtful consequences. There are instances of men who have been ruined by their money or killed by their courage.

  Aristotle

  Men, Hurtful, Good Things

  Aristotle (1953). “Ethics: The Nicomachean Ethics”

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• A courageous person is one who faces fearful things as he ought and as reason directs for the sake of what is noble.

  Aristotle

  Noble, Sake, Faces

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• Error is multiform (for evil is a form of the unlimited, as in the old Pythagorean imagery, and good of the limited), whereas success is possible in one way only (which is why it is easy to fail and difficult to succeed - easy to miss the target and difficult to hit it); so this is another reason why excess and deficiency are a mark of vice, and observance of the mean a mark of virtue: Goodness is simple, badness is manifold.

  Aristotle

  Mean, Simple, Errors

  Aristotle (1996). “The Nicomachean Ethics”, p.41, Wordsworth Editions

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• Tragedy is an imitation not only of a complete action, but of events inspiring fear and pity. Such an effect is best produced when the events come on us by surprise; and the effect is heightened when, at the same time, they follow as cause and effect. The tragic wonder will then be great than if they happened of themselves or by accident; for even coincidences are most striking when they have an air of design.

  Aristotle

  Air, Design, Tragedy

  Aristotle (0101). “The Poetics of Aristotle”, p.18, Prabhat Prakashan

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• If everything when it occupies an equal space is at rest, and if that which is in locomotion is always occupying such a space at any moment, the flying arrow is therefore motionless.

  Aristotle

  Arrows, Space, Flying

  Aristotle (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Aristotle (Illustrated)”, p.645, Delphi Classics

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• If some animals are good at hunting and others are suitable for hunting, then the Gods must clearly smile on hunting.

  Aristotle

  Hunting, Animal, Hunters

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• A constitution is the arrangement of magistracies in a state.

  Aristotle

  Philosophical, Constitution, States

  Aristotle, Stephen Everson (1996). “Aristotle: The Politics and the Constitution of Athens”, p.69, Cambridge University Press

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• No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness.

  Aristotle

  Philosophical, Insanity, Soul

  Socrates, Plato, Aristotle (1967). “Wit and Wisdom of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle: Being a Treasury of Thousands of Glorious, Inspiring and Imperishable Thoughts, Views and Observations of the Three Great Greek Philosophers, Classified Under about Four Hundred Subjects for Comparative Study”

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• The basis of a democratic state is liberty

  Aristotle

  4th Of July, Liberty, States

  Marcus Aurelius, Plato, Aristotle (2012). “The Modern Library Collection of Greek and Roman Philosophy 3-Book Bundle: Meditations; Selected Dialogues of Plato; The Basic Works of Aristotle”, p.3476, Modern Library

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• All virtue is summed up in dealing justly.

  Aristotle

  Character, People, Vices

  Aristotle (1953). “Ethics: The Nicomachean Ethics”

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• A likely impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility.

  Aristotle

  Leadership, Greek, Coaching

  Poetics ch. 24, 1460a

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• To be ignorant of motion is to be ignorant of nature

  Aristotle

  Ignorant

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• No notice is taken of a little evil, but when it increases it strikes the eye.

  Aristotle

  Philosophical, Taken, Eye

  Aristotle, Aeterna Press (2015). “Politics”, p.166, Aeterna Press

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• In a polity, each citizen is to possess his own arms, which are not supplied or owned by the state.

  Aristotle

  Gun, Citizens, Arms

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• All art is concerned with coming into being; for it is concerned neither with things that are, or come into being by necessity, nor with things that do so in accordance with nature.

  Aristotle

  Art, Artist, Art Is

  Aristotle, (2014). “Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation”, p.1800, Princeton University Press

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• Wit is educated insolence.

  Aristotle

  Inspirational, Witty, Humorous

  Aristotle (1909). “The Rhetoric of Aristotle: A Translation”

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• What is common to many is least taken care of, for all men have greater regard for what is their own than what they possess in common with others.

  Aristotle

  Taken, Men, Care

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• Great is the good fortune of a state in which the citizens have a moderate and sufficient property.

  Aristotle

  Citizens, States, Fortune

  Aristotle (2016). “Politics”, p.144, Aristotle

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