Aristotle

Explore 45 quotes by Aristotle

It is the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it. The beginning of reform is not so much to equalize property as to train the noble sort of natures not to desire more, and to prevent the lower from getting more.

Aristotle

Politics

Buy Politics at Amazon Buy Politics at Amazon
Read Politics at MIT's classics department website

More information about this quote

Topic

Acquisitiveness Desire Materialism Attachment (Buddhism) Redistribution of resources

Author

Aristotle

Source

Politics

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

350 BC 350s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aristotle. Politics. 4th century BC, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Politics, translated by R. F. Stalley and Sir Ernest Barker. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 2.

The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.

Aristotle

Buy De Caelo at Amazon Buy De Caelo at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Butterfly effect Little things make a big difference

Author

Aristotle

Source

On the Heavens

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

Greek

Time

350 BC 350s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Aristotle. Περὶ οὐρανοῦ [On the Heavens]. c. 350 BC.

Current Citation

Aristotle. De Caelo, translated by C. D. C. Reeve. Hackett Publishing, 2020.

Men are good in but one way, but bad in many.

Aristotle

The Nicomachean Ethics

Buy the Nicomachean Ethics at Amazon Buy the Nicomachean Ethics at Amazon
Read the Nicomachean Ethics at MIT's classics department website

More information about this quote

Topic

Human nature Nature of man

Author

Aristotle

Source

The Nicomachean Ethics

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

350 BC 350s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aristotle. Ἠθικὰ Νικομάχεια, Ēthika Nikomacheia [Nicomachean Ethics]. c. 322 BC.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics, translated by Terence Irwin. Hackett Publishing, 2019, bk. 2.

If purpose, then, is inherent in art, so is it in Nature also. The best illustration is the case of a man being his own physician, for Nature is like that-agent and patient at once.

Aristotle

Physics

Buy Physics at Amazon Buy Physics at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature

Author

Aristotle

Source

Physics

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

Greek

Time

350 BC 350s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aristotle. Φυσικὴ ἀκρόασις Phusike akroasis [Physics]. 4th century BC.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Physics, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2008.

So poetry is something more philosophical and more worthy of serious attention than history, for while poetry is concerned with universal truth, history treats of particular facts.

Aristotle

Poetics

Buy Poetics at Amazon Buy Poetics at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Poetry History Truth

Author

Aristotle

Source

Poetics

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Greek

Time

335 BC 330s BC 4th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Aristotle. Περὶ ποιητικῆς Peri poietikês [Poetics]. c. 335 BC.

Current Citation

Aristotle. Poetics, translated by James Hutton, edited by David Gorman and Michelle Zerba. W. W. Norton & Company, 2018.