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
The life of theoretical philosophy is the best and happiest a man can lead. Few men are capable of it and then only intermittently. For the rest there is a second-best way of life, that of moral virtue and practical wisdom.
A good style must have an air of novelty, at the same time concealing its art.
That in the soul which is called the mind is, before it thinks, not actually any real thing.
He overcomes a stout enemy who overcomes his own anger.
To appreciate the beauty of a snow flake, it is necessary to stand out in the cold.
The family is the association established by nature for the supply of man's everyday wants.
Virtue makes us aim at the right end, and practical wisdom makes us take the right means.
Not to know of what things one should demand demonstration, and of what one should not, argues want of education.
The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor.
A person's life persuades better than his word.
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.
Temperance and bravery, then, are ruined by excess and deficiency, but preserved by the mean.
Happiness is the reward of virtue.
It is evidently equally foolish to accept probable reasoning from a mathematician and to demand from a rhetorician demonstrative proofs.