Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagira, Chalkidice, on the northern periphery of Classical Greece. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, whereafter Proxenus of Atarneus became his guardian. At eighteen, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven. His writings cover many subjects – including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theater, music, rhetoric, linguistics, politics and government – and constitute the first comprehensive system...
NationalityGreek
ProfessionPhilosopher
A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.
The whole is more than the sum of its parts.
Memory is the scribe of the soul.
...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.
Those who cannot bravely face danger are the slaves of their attackers.
If things do not turn out as we wish, we should wish for them as they turn out.
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.
The excellence of a thing is related to its proper function.
It is the characteristic of the magnanimous man to ask no favor but to be ready to do kindness to others.
We should venture on the study of every kind of animal without distaste; for each and all will reveal to us something natural and something beautiful.
The happy life is regarded as a life in conformity with virtue. It is a life which involves effort and is not spent in amusement.
Ancient laws remain in force long after the people have the power to change them.
There is a foolish corner in the brain of the wisest man.
For though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first.