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 good lawgiver should inquire how states and races of men and communities may participate in a good life, and in the happiness which is attainable by them.
In the perfect state the good man is absolutely the same as the good citizen; whereas in other states the good citizen is only good relatively to his own form of government.
The good man is he for whom, because he is virtuous, the things that are absolutely good are good; it is also plain that his use of these goods must be virtuous and in the absolute sense good.
The good citizen need not of necessity possess the virtue which makes a good man.
It is easier to get one or a few of good sense, and of ability to legislate and adjudge, than to get many.
Good has two meanings: it means that which is good absolutely and that which is good for somebody.
All that we do is done with an eye to something else.
The democrats think that as they are equal they ought to be equal in all things.
Democracy is the form of government in which the free are rulers.
Self-sufficiency is both a good and an absolute good.
Evidence from torture may be considered completely untrustworthy
For legislators make the citizens good by forming habits in them, and this is the wish of every legislator, and those who do not effect it miss their mark, and it is in this that a good constitution differs from a bad one.
There is nothing strange in the circle being the origin of any and every marvel.
Truth is a remarkable thing. We cannot miss knowing some of it. But we cannot know it entirely.