You are here:
About>Homework Help>Ancient / Classical History
About.com

FREE Newsletter


See Online Courses
 
Ancient / Classical History
Stay up to date!
 

Aristotle Quotes

Your Guide, N.S. GillFrom N.S. Gill,
Your Guide to Ancient / Classical History.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!

Quotations from Aristotle

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) was born in the city of Stagira in Macedonia. His father, Nichomacus, was King Amyntas of Macedonia's personal physician.
In 367, at the age of 17, Aristotle went to Athens to attend the Academy, a school, which had been founded by Plato and named for the grove in which it was located. Aristotle stayed at the Academy (where he taught rhetoric), until the founder's death in 347, at which time the Academy was handed over to Plato's nephew Speusippus. Then Aristotle left Athens, traveling until 343 when he became tutor at the Macedonian court for Alexander, soon to be known as the Great. Aristotle lived at the court for eight years, and then returned to Athens where he taught in a gymnasium named the Lyceum. Aristole walked around talking with his students, and for this practice, his school is referred to as Peripatetic. His fields of study included logic, grammar, rhetoric, literary criticism, natural history, physiology, psychology, and the history of philosophy. Aristotle's successor at the Lyceum was Theophrastus.
Charged with impiety after the death of Alexander, Aristotle retired to Colchis where he died.
For more information on Aristotle, one of the greatest and most versatile philosophers of all time, read

Aristotle - E-Texts|Aristotle Writes About Tragedy|Aristotle Net Links.

Aristotle Quotations
    The chief good he (Aristotle) has defined to be the exercise of virtue in a perfect life.
    - Diogenes Laërtius Aristotle. xiii.
    We make war that we may live in peace.
    Nicomachean Ethics, bk. 10, ch. 7, sct. 1177b.
    Aristotle said melancholy men of all others are most witty.
    Robert Burton (1577–1640)
    Aristotle was once asked what those who tell lies gain by it. Said he, 'That when they speak truth they are not believed.'
    Diogenes Laërtius Aristotle. xi.

    The question was put to him, what hope is; and his answer was, 'The dream of a waking man.'
    Diogenes Laërtius Aristotle. xi.

    He used to say that personal beauty was a better introduction than any letter; 18 but others say that it was Diogenes who gave this description of it, while Aristotle called beauty 'the gift of God;' that Socrates called it 'a short-lived tyranny;' Theophrastus, 'a silent deceit;' Theocritus, 'an ivory mischief;' Carneades, 'a sovereignty which stood in need of no guards.'
    Diogenes Laërtius Aristotle. xi.

    On one occasion Aristotle was asked how much educated men were superior to those uneducated: 'As much,' said he, 'as the living are to the dead.'
    Diogenes Laërtius Aristotle. xi.

    It was a saying of his that education was an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.
    Diogenes Laërtius Aristotle. xi.

    He was once asked what a friend is, and his answer was, 'One soul abiding in two bodies.'
    Diogenes Laërtius Aristotle. xi.

    Asked what he gained from philosophy, he answered, 'To do without being commanded what others do from fear of the laws.'
    Diogenes Laërtius Aristotle. xi.

    The question was once put to him, how we ought to behave to our friends; and the answer he gave was, 'As we should wish our friends to behave to us.'
    Diogenes Laërtius Aristotle. xi.

    He used to define justice as 'a virtue of the soul distributing that which each person deserved.'
    Diogenes Laërtius Aristotle. xi.

    Another of his sayings was, that education was the best viaticum of old age.
    Diogenes Laërtius Aristotle. xi.

    The chief good he has defined to be the exercise of virtue in a perfect life.
    Diogenes Laërtius Aristotle. xiii.

    He used to teach that God is incorporeal, as Plato also asserted, and that his providence extends over all the heavenly bodies.
    Diogenes Laërtius Aristotle. xiii.

    Topic Index | Email to a Friend

Our Story | Be a Guide | Advertising Info | Work at About | Site Map | Icons | Help
User Agreement | Ethics Policy | Patent Info. | Privacy Policy | Kids' Privacy Policy

©2005 About, Inc., A part of the New York Times Company. All rights reserved.
Around About

Oprah's Story About Hugh Hefner Tips on Saving Energy VIDEO: Digital Cameras VIDEO: Fitness Gadgets

What's Hot

Oedipal ComplexMorituri te salutantPygmiesClassical GreeceRome After the Kings