One swallow does not make a summer,neither does one fine day; similarly one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy.
For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.
Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way… you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.
Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives – choice, not chance, determines your destiny.
To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man.
It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.
Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.
I have gained this by philosophy … I do without being ordered what some are constrained to do by their fear of the law.
I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who overcomes his enemies.
Comedy aims at representing men as worse, Tragedy as better than in actual life.
With the truth, all given facts harmonize; but with what is false, the truth soon hits a wrong note.
The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think.
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.
The pleasures arising from thinking and learning will make us think and learn all the more. 1153a 23
Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.
Happiness is a quality of the soul…not a function of one’s material circumstances.
Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.
Even subjects that are known are known only to a few
Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.
The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living differ from the dead.
Learning is an ornament in prosperity, a refuge in adversity, and a provision in old age.
Time crumbles things everything grows old under the power of Time and is forgotten through the lapse of Time.
All Earthquakes and Disasters are warnings there’s too much corruption in the world
Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.
What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.
Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.
Without friends, no one would want to live, even if he had all other goods.
Democracy arose from men’s thinking that if they are equal in any respect, they are equal absolutely.
He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled
The female is, as it were, a mutilated male, and the catamenia are semen, only not pure; for there is only one thing they have not in them, the principle of soul.
He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader.
With respect to the requirement of art, the probable impossible is always preferable to the improbable possible.
Tis the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.
The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.”— Aristotle
You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor. –Aristotle
For he who lives as passion directs will not hear argument that dissuades him, nor understand it if he does; and how can we persuade one in such a state to change his ways?
The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law.
Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society.
Political society exists for the sake of noble actions, and not of mere companionship.
One must learn by doing the thing, for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try.
Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.
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.
The ideal man, takes joy in doing favours for others; but he feels ashamed to have others do favours for him. For it is a mark of superiority to confer a kindness; but it is a mark of inferiority to receive it.
The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another, not because he does not feel them, but because he is a man of high and heroic temper.
Men do not become tyrants in order that they may not suffer cold.
It is of the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it.
It is also in the interests of the tyrant to make his subjects poor… the people are so occupied with their daily tasks that they have no time for plotting.
It is a part of probability that many improbabilities will happen.
All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire.
It is well said, then, that it is by doing just acts that the just man is produced, and by doing temperate acts the temperate man; without doing these no one would have even a prospect of becoming good.
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.
Anyone can get angry, but to do this to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive, and in the right way, that is not for everyone, nor is it easy.
Those who are not angry at the things they should be angry at are thought to be fools, and so are those who are not angry in the right way, at the right time, or with the right persons.
All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right, and not what is established.
Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion.
Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved.
We shall learn the qualities of governments in the same way as we learn the qualities of individuals, since they are revealed in their deliberate acts of choice; and these are determined by the end that inspires them.
It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen.
The end toward which all human acts are directed is happiness.
Young people are in a condition like permanent intoxication, because life is sweet and they are growing.
Fame means being respected by everybody, or having some quality that is desired by all men, or by most, or by the good, or by the wise.
Whosoever is delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast or a god.
Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.
I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self.
One can with but moderate possessions do what one ought.
Life in accordance with intellect is best and pleasantest, since this, more than anything else, constitutes humanity.
Happiness seems to depend on leisure, because we work to have leisure, and wage war to live in peace.
Neither by nature, then, nor contrary to nature do the virtues arise in us; rather we are adapted by nature to receive them, and are made perfect by habit.
It is impossible, or not easy, to alter by argument what has long been absorbed by habit
Every skill and every inquiry, and similarly every action and rational choice, is thought to aim at some good; and so the good had been aptly described as that at which everything aims.
Yes the truth is that men’s ambition and their desire to make money are among the most frequent causes of deliberate acts of injustice.
For it is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and at first began to philosophize.
No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.
No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness.- Aristotle (Attributed by Seneca in Moral Essays, “De Tranquillitate Animi” On Tranquility of Mind, sct. 17, subsct. 10.)
That which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal.
Criticism is something you can easily avoid by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.
Criticism is something you can easily avoid — by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.
There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.
These virtues are formed in man by his doing the actions … The good of man is a working of the soul in the way of excellence in a complete life.
The beginning seems to be more than half of the whole.
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 neighbor to have them through envy.
The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor; it is the one thing that cannot be learnt from others; and it is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity in the dissimilar.
The Ideal age for marriage in men is 35. The Ideal age for marriage in women is 18
Virtue lies in our power, and similarly so does vice; because where it is in our power to act, it is also in our power not to act…
Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them.
They are fond of fun and therefore witty, wit being well-bred insolence.
The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace making the best of circumstances.
The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another not because he does not feel them but because he is a man of high and heroic temper.
Art not only imitates nature but also completes its deficiencies.
To enjoy the things we ought and to hate the things we ought has the greatest bearing on excellence of character.
Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.
Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.
Without friends no one would choose to live though he had all other goods.
Without friends no one would choose to live though he had all other goods.
Friends are an aid to the young to guard them from error to the elderly to attend to their wants and to supplement their failing power of action to those in the prime of life to assist them to noble deeds.
We should behave to our friends as we would wish our friends to behave to us.
Wishing to be friends is quick work but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit.
My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.
In poverty and other misfortunes of life true friends are a sure refuge.
Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.
There is no great genius without a mixture of madness.
Honors and rewards fall to those who show their good qualities in action.
Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life the whole aim and end of human existence
Different men seek … happiness in different ways and by different means.
Happiness is an expression of the soul in considered actions.
Happiness seems to require a modicum of external prosperity.
Dignity does not consist in possessing honours but in deserving them.
Humour is the only test of gravity and gravity of humour for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.
No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness.
Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life the whole aim and end of human existence.
It is best to rise from life as from a banquet neither thirsty nor drunken.
In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.
Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.
It is Homer who has chiefly taught other poets the art of telling lies skilfully.
We become just by performing just actions temperate by performing temperate actions brave by performing brave actions.
Life is full of chances and changes and the most prosperous of men may … meet with great misfortunes.
Inferiors revolt in order that they may be equal and equals that they may be superior.
Revolutions are not about trifles but spring from trifles.
Different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means and so make for themselves different modes of life.
What lies in our power to do it lies in our power not to do.
I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies the hardest victory is the victory over self.
Shame is an ornament to the young a disgrace to the old.
A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.
To amuse oneself in order that one may exert oneself, as Anacharsis puts it, seems right; for amusement is a sort of relaxation, and we need relaxation because we cannot work continuously.
It is clearly better that property should be private, but the use of it common; and the special business of the legislator is to create in men this benevolent disposition.
Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.
We are not angry with people we fear or respect, as long as we fear or respect them; you cannot be afraid of a person and also at the same time angry with him.
Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.
All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire.
The moral virtues, then, are produced in us neither by nature nor against nature. Nature, indeed, prepares in us the ground for their reception, but their complete formation is the product of habit.
If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is nature’s way.
Therefore, the good of man must be the end of the science of politics.
The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.
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.
The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.
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.
Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.
Bashfulness is an ornament to youth, but a reproach to old age.
Different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life and forms of government.
Politicians also have no leisure, because they are always aiming at something beyond political life itself, power and glory, or happiness.
There is no great genius without some touch of madness.
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.
We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; in feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.
My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.
At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.
The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.
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 ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.
What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.
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.
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.
Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.
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.
To attain any assured knowledge about the soul is one of the most difficult things in the world.
Courage is a mean with regard to fear and confidence.
I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.
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.
Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.
The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.
You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.
A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.
Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind.
Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference.
Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion. This is not a function of any other art.
It is Homer who has chiefly taught other poets the art of telling lies skillfully.
Homer has taught all other poets the art of telling lies skillfully.
Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.
Perfect friendship is the friendship of men who are good, and alike in excellence; for these wish well alike to each other qua good, and they are good in themselves.
Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.
The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.
Excellence, then, is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean, relative to us, this being determined by reason and in the way in which the man of practical wisdom would determine it.
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.
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.