Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), a Greek philosopher, significantly impacted multiple fields of human knowledge, including logic, biology, ethics and aesthetics.
Born in Stagira, he was educated at Plato’s Academy in Athens for 20 years.
Following Plato’s death, Aristotle left Athens due to political issues and personal frustrations.
He carried out his pioneering marine biology research in Asia Minor and tutored Alexander the Great.
In 335 B.C., Aristotle returned to Athens to establish the Lyceum where he composed most of his works.
His treatises, including the “Organon”, “Metaphysics”, “Nicomachean Ethics”, “Politics”, “Rhetoric” and “Poetics” played significant roles in various disciplines.
Aristotle’s influence faded during the Renaissance and Reformation but remains relevant in contemporary arguments in fields such as logic, aesthetics, political theory and ethics.
See also: Julius Caesar Quotes and Carl Sagan Quotes.
In this article, I have picked the most famous quotes by Aristotle.
Best Aristotle Quotes
1. “Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.” ~ (Aristotle).
2. “The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.” ~ (Aristotle).
3. “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” ~ (Aristotle).
4. “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.” ~ (Aristotle).
5. “Hope is a waking dream.” ~ (Aristotle).
6. “He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader.” ~ (Aristotle).
7. “No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.” ~ (Aristotle).
8. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” ~ (Aristotle).
9. “To avoid criticism – say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.” ~ (Aristotle).
10. “Through discipline comes freedom.” ~ (Aristotle).
11. “He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.” ~ (Aristotle).
12. “The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.” ~ (Aristotle).
13. “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” ~ (Aristotle).
14. “I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who overcomes his enemies.” ~ (Aristotle).
15. “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” ~ (Aristotle).
16. “Happiness is a state of activity.” ~ (Aristotle).
17. “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” ~ (Aristotle).
18. “Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation.” ~ (Aristotle).
19. “The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend.” ~ (Aristotle).
20. “What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.” ~ (Aristotle).
21. “Happiness depends upon ourselves.” ~ (Aristotle).
22. “Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.” ~ (Aristotle).
23. “Fortune favours the bold.” ~ (Aristotle).
24. “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” ~ (Aristotle).
25. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” ~ (Aristotle).
26. “Quality is not an act, it is a habit.” ~ (Aristotle).
27. “He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled.” ~ (Aristotle).
28. “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” ~ (Aristotle).
29. “Well begun is half done.” ~ (Aristotle).
Popular Aristotle Quotes
30. “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).
31. “Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach.” ~ (Aristotle).
32. “Our problem is not that we aim too high and miss, but that we aim too low and hit.” ~ (Aristotle).
33. “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” ~ (Aristotle).
34. “A friend to all is a friend to none.” ~ (Aristotle).
35. “The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think.” ~ (Aristotle).
36. “Whosoever is delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast or a god.” ~ (Aristotle).
37. “Learning is not child’s play; we cannot learn without pain.” ~ (Aristotle).
38. “Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way.” ~ (Aristotle).
39. “In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.” ~ (Aristotle).
40. “The energy of the mind is the essence of life.” ~ (Aristotle).
41. “To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man.” ~ (Aristotle).
42. “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation.” ~ (Aristotle).
43. “It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace.” ~ (Aristotle).
44. “The complete man must work, study and wrestle.” ~ (Aristotle).
45. “What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good.” ~ (Aristotle).
46. “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).
47. “The Law is Reason free from Passion.” ~ (Aristotle).
48. “We are the sum of our actions, and therefore our habits make all the difference.” ~ (Aristotle).
49. “A promise made must be a promise kept.” ~ (Aristotle).
50. “Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.” ~ (Aristotle).
51. “All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.” ~ (Aristotle).
52. “Great men are always of a nature originally melancholy.” ~ (Aristotle).
53. “Virtue is the golden mean between two vices, the one of excess and the other of deficiency.” ~ (Aristotle).
54. “He who has conferred a benefit on anyone from motives of love or honor will feel pain, if he sees that the benefit is received without gratitude.” ~ (Aristotle).
55. “95% of everything you do is the result of habit.” ~ (Aristotle).
56. “Be a free thinker and don’t accept everything you hear as truth. Be critical and evaluate what you believe in.” ~ (Aristotle).
57. “At the intersection where your gifts, talents, and abilities meet a human need; therein you will discover your purpose.” ~ (Aristotle).
58. “We can’t learn without pain.” ~ (Aristotle).
59. “The quality of life is determined by its activities.” ~ (Aristotle).
60. “Teaching is the highest form of understanding.” ~ (Aristotle).
Top Aristotle Quotes
61. “First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end.” ~ (Aristotle).
62. “The greatest of all pleasures is the pleasure of learning.” ~ (Aristotle).
63. “The worst thing about slavery is that the slaves eventually get to like it.” ~ (Aristotle).
64. “Happiness is the highest good.” ~ (Aristotle).
65. “Health is a matter of choice, not a mystery of chance.” ~ (Aristotle).
66. “It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.” ~ (Aristotle).
67. “Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Give a man a poisoned fish, you feed him for the rest of his life.” ~ (Aristotle).
68. “Speech is the representation of the mind, and writing is the representation of speech.” ~ (Aristotle).
69. “You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.” ~ (Aristotle).
70. “What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.” ~ (Aristotle).
71. “Happiness belongs to the self sufficient.” ~ (Aristotle).
72. “Man is a goal-seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.” ~ (Aristotle).
73. “Justice therefore demands that no one should do more ruling than being ruled, but that all should have their turn.” ~ (Aristotle).
74. “The weak are always anxious for justice and equality. The strong pay no heed to either.” ~ (Aristotle).
75. “At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.” ~ (Aristotle).
76. “The soul never thinks without a picture.” ~ (Aristotle).
77. “To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake, it is necessary to stand out in the cold.” ~ (Aristotle).
78. “A tragedy is that moment where the hero comes face to face with his true identity.” ~ (Aristotle).
79. “We work to earn our leisure.” ~ (Aristotle).
80. “The misanthrope, as an essentially solitary man, is not a man at all: he must be a beast or a god…” ~ (Aristotle).
81. “The senses are gateways to the intelligence. There is nothing in the intelligence which did not first pass through the senses.” ~ (Aristotle).
82. “The fool tells me his reason; the wise man persuades me with my own.” ~ (Aristotle).
83. “We become brave by doing brave acts.” ~ (Aristotle).
84. “Greed has no boundaries.” ~ (Aristotle).
Famous Aristotle Quotes
85. “The intelligence consists not only in the knowledge but also in the skill to apply the knowledge into practice.” ~ (Aristotle).
86. “To lead an orchestra, you must turn your back on the crowd.” ~ (Aristotle).
87. “We become just by the practice of just actions, self-controlled by exercising self-control, and courageous by performing acts of courage.” ~ (Aristotle).
88. “Think as the wise men think, but talk like the simple people do.” ~ (Aristotle).
89. “The hardest victory is the victory over self.” ~ (Aristotle).
90. “The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.” ~ (Aristotle).
91. “Fate of empires depends on the education of youth.” ~ (Aristotle).
92. “There’s many a slip between the cup and the lip.” ~ (Aristotle).
93. “Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.” ~ (Aristotle).
94. “The high-minded man does not bear grudges, for it is not the mark of a great soul to remember injuries, but to forget them.” ~ (Aristotle).
95. “Each human being is bred with a unique set of potentials that yearn to be fulfilled as surely as the acorn yearns to become the oak within it.” ~ (Aristotle).
96. “True happiness comes from gaining insight and growing into your best possible self. Otherwise all you’re having is immediate gratification pleasure, which is fleeting and doesn’t grow you as a person.” ~ (Aristotle).
97. “Music has the power of producing a certain effect on the moral character of the soul, and if it has the power to do this, it is clear that the young must be directed to music and must be educated in it.” ~ (Aristotle).
98. “He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.” ~ (Aristotle).
99. “We give up leisure in order that we may have leisure, just as we go to war in order that we may have peace.” ~ (Aristotle).
100. “There is nothing unequal as the equal treatment of unequals.” ~ (Aristotle).
101. “The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” ~ (Aristotle).
102. “Freedom is obedience to self-formulated rules.” ~ (Aristotle).
103. “Courage is the first virtue that makes all other virtues possible.” ~ (Aristotle).
104. “To perceive is to suffer.” ~ (Aristotle).
105. “Nature does nothing uselessly.” ~ (Aristotle).
106. “All communication must lead to change.” ~ (Aristotle).
107. “All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire.” ~ (Aristotle).
108. “Wit is educated insolence.” ~ (Aristotle).
109. “All men by nature desire knowledge.” ~ (Aristotle).
110. “Greatness of spirit is accompanied by simplicity and sincerity.” ~ (Aristotle).
111. “Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society.” ~ (Aristotle).
112. “Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion.” ~ (Aristotle).
113. “Happiness does not consist in pastimes and amusements but in virtuous activities.” ~ (Aristotle).
114. “Learning is an ornament in prosperity, a refuge in adversity, and a provision in old age.” ~ (Aristotle).
Short Aristotle Quotes
115. “Man is by nature a political animal.” ~ (Aristotle).
116. “Masculine republics give way to feminine democracies, and feminine democracies give way to tyranny.” ~ (Aristotle).
117. “Wonder implies the desire to learn.” ~ (Aristotle).
118. “Our characters are the result of our conduct.” ~ (Aristotle).
119. “Beauty is the gift of God.” ~ (Aristotle).
120. “When you ask a dumb question, you get a smart answer.” ~ (Aristotle).
121. “The best way to avoid envy is to deserve the success you get.” ~ (Aristotle).
122. “There is a foolish corner in the brain of the wisest man.” ~ (Aristotle).
123. “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” ~ (Aristotle).
124. “Without friends, no one would want to live, even if he had all other goods.” ~ (Aristotle).
125. “In the arena of human life the honors and rewards fall to those who show their good qualities in action.” ~ (Aristotle).
126. “We make war that we may live in peace.” ~ (Aristotle).
127. “I have gained this by philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.” ~ (Aristotle).
128. “Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.” ~ (Aristotle).
129. “It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen.” ~ (Aristotle).
130. “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.” ~ (Aristotle).
131. “It is better for a city to be governed by a good man than by good laws.” ~ (Aristotle).
132. “Human beings are curious by nature.” ~ (Aristotle).
133. “A person’s life persuades better than his word.” ~ (Aristotle).
134. “Philosophy begins with wonder.” ~ (Aristotle).
135. “Saying the words that come from knowledge is no sign of having it.” ~ (Aristotle).
136. “Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them.” ~ (Aristotle).
137. “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.” ~ (Aristotle).
138. “All teaching and all intellectual learning come about from already existing knowledge.” ~ (Aristotle).
139. “Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth.” ~ (Aristotle).
140. “Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.” ~ (Aristotle).
141. “The avarice of mankind is insatiable.” ~ (Aristotle).
142. “Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.” ~ (Aristotle).
143. “Our youth should also be educated with music and physical education.” ~ (Aristotle).
144. “If the art of ship-building were in the wood, ships would exist by nature.” ~ (Aristotle).
145. “The many are more incorruptible than the few; they are like the greater quantity of water which is less easily corrupted than a little.” ~ (Aristotle).
146. “The guest will judge better of a feast than the cook.” ~ (Aristotle).
147. “Every realm of nature is marvelous.” ~ (Aristotle).
148. “It is the mark of an educated mind to expect that amount of exactness which the nature of the particular subject admits. It is equally unreasonable to accept merely probable conclusions from a mathematician and to demand strict demonstration from an orator.” ~ (Aristotle).
149. “Man is the metre of all things, the hand is the instrument of instruments, and the mind is the form of forms.” ~ (Aristotle).
150. “The most beautiful colors laid on at random, give less pleasure than a black-and-white drawing.” ~ (Aristotle).
Inspiring Aristotle Quotes
151. “Friends hold a mirror up to each other; through that mirror they can see each other in ways that would not otherwise be accessible to them, and it is this mirroring that helps them improve themselves as persons.” ~ (Aristotle).
152. “Law is order, and good law is good order.” ~ (Aristotle).
153. “He who sees things grow from the beginning will have the best view of them.” ~ (Aristotle).
154. “The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.” ~ (Aristotle).
155. “Life is only meaningful when we are striving for a goal .” ~ (Aristotle).
156. “Again, the male is by nature superior, and the female inferior; and the one rules, and the other is ruled; this principle, of necessity, extends to all mankind.” ~ (Aristotle).
157. “If you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development.” ~ (Aristotle).
158. “Love is the cause of unity in all things.” ~ (Aristotle).
159. “Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind.” ~ (Aristotle).
160. “Nothing is what rocks dream about.” ~ (Aristotle).
161. “Soul and body, I suggest react sympathetically upon each other. A change in the state of the soul produces a change in the shape of the body and conversely, a change in the shape of the body produces a change in the state of the soul.” ~ (Aristotle).
162. “The law is reason unaffected by desire.” ~ (Aristotle).
163. “The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.” ~ (Aristotle).
Inspirational Aristotle Quotes
164. “Character is determined by choice, not opinion.” ~ (Aristotle).
165. “In a polity, each citizen is to possess his own arms, which are not supplied or owned by the state.” ~ (Aristotle).
166. “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.” ~ (Aristotle).
167. “The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor; it is the one thing that cannot be learned from others; and it is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity of the dissimilar.” ~ (Aristotle).
168. “When there is no middle class, and the poor greatly exceed in number, troubles arise, and the state soon comes to an end.” ~ (Aristotle).
169. “All men seek one goal: success or happiness.” ~ (Aristotle).
170. “Peace is more difficult than war.” ~ (Aristotle).
171. “Art completes what nature cannot bring to finish. The artist gives us knowledge of nature’s unrealized ends.” ~ (Aristotle).
172. “Friendship is two souls inhabiting one body.” ~ (Aristotle).
173. “The end of labor is to gain leisure.” ~ (Aristotle).
174. “God has many names, though He is only one Being.” ~ (Aristotle).
175. “Every virtue is a mean between two extremes, each of which is a vice.” ~ (Aristotle).
176. “No democracy can exist unless each of its citizens is as capable of outrage at injustice to another as he is of outrage at unjustice to himself.” ~ (Aristotle).
177. “The real difference between democracy and oligarchy is poverty and wealth. Wherever men rule by reason of their wealth, whether they be few or many, that is an oligarchy, and where the poor rule, that is a democracy.” ~ (Aristotle).
178. “Change in all things is sweet.” ~ (Aristotle).
179. “The secret to humor is surprise.” ~ (Aristotle).
180. “When the storytelling goes bad in a society, the result is decadence.” ~ (Aristotle).
181. “Music directly represents the passions of the soul. If one listens to the wrong kind of music, he will become the wrong kind of person.” ~ (Aristotle).
182. “Cruel is the strife of brothers.” ~ (Aristotle).
183. “That which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it.” ~ (Aristotle).
184. “Music has a power of forming the character, and should therefore be introduced into the education of the young.” ~ (Aristotle).
185. “It is a part of probability that many improbable things will happen.” ~ (Aristotle).
186. “A common danger unites even the bitterest enemies.” ~ (Aristotle).
187. “To say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that it is not, is true.” ~ (Aristotle).
188. “Time crumbles things; everything grows old under the power of Time and is forgotten through the lapse of Time.” ~ (Aristotle).
189. “Wicked men obey for fear, but the good for love.” ~ (Aristotle).
190. “It is of the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it.” ~ (Aristotle).
191. “All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.” ~ (Aristotle).
192. “Equity is that idea of justice which contravenes the written law.” ~ (Aristotle).
193. “The ideal man takes joy in doing favors for others.” ~ (Aristotle).
194. “Knowledge of the fact differs from knowledge of the reason for the fact.” ~ (Aristotle).
195. “The soul is the form of the body.” ~ (Aristotle).
196. “The best way to teach morality is to make it a habit with children.” ~ (Aristotle).
197. “Have a definite, clear, practical ideal – a goal, an objective.” ~ (Aristotle).
198. “Only an armed people can be truly free. Only an unarmed people can ever be enslaved.” ~ (Aristotle).
199. “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.” ~ (Aristotle).
200. “So it is naturally with the male and the female; the one is superior, the other inferior; the one governs, the other is governed; and the same rule must necessarily hold good with respect to all mankind.” ~ (Aristotle).
201. “Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses and avoids.” ~ (Aristotle).
