Aristotle Life Quotations

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.

The energy of the mind is the essence of life.

Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.

The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is nature's way.

Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last.

The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons.

The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.

The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead.

The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.

A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.

It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken.

It is not once nor twice but times without number that the same ideas make their appearance in the world.

In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge. The young they keep out of mischief; to the old they are a comfort and aid in their weakness, and those in the prime of life they incite to noble deeds.

Politicians also have no leisure, because they are always aiming at something beyond political life itself, power and glory, or happiness.

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.

The state comes into existence for the sake of life and continues to exist for the sake of good life.

The moral virtues, then, are produced in us neither by nature nor against nature. Nature, indeed, prepares in us the ground for their reception, but their complete formation is the product of habit.

The gods too are fond of a joke.

Teachers, who educate children, deserve more honour than parents, who merely gave them birth; for the latter provided mere life, while the former ensure a good life.

There is a cropping-time in the races of men, as in the fruits of the field; and sometimes, if the stock be good, there springs up for a time a succession of splendid men; and then comes a period of barrenness.

If there is some end of the things we do, which we desire for its own sake, clearly this must be the good. Will not knowledge of it, then, have a great influence on life? Shall we not, like archers who have a mark to aim at, be more likely to hit upon what we should? If so, we must try, in outline at least, to determine what it is.

Men cling to life even at the cost of enduring great misfortune.

The energy or active exercise of the mind constitutes life.

The happy life is thought to be one of excellence; now an excellent life requires exertion, and does not consist in amusement.

You'll understand what life is if you think about the act of dying. When I die, how will I be different from the way I am right now? In the first moments after death, my body will be scarcely different in physical terms than it was in the last seconds of life, but I will no longer move, no longer sense, nor speak, nor feel, nor care. It's these things that are life. At that moment, the psyche takes flight in the last breath.

The true nature of a thing is the highest it can become.

Men come together in cities in order to live: they remain together in order to live the good life

When several villages are united in a single complete community, large enough to be nearly or quite self-sufficing, the state comes into existence, originating in the bare needs of life, and continuing in existence for the sake of a good life.

Man is a goal-seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.

What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good.

Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.

To perceive is to suffer.

A friend is a second self.

In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge.

The quality of life is determined by its activities.

...happiness does not consist in amusement. In fact, it would be strange if our end were amusement, and if we were to labor and suffer hardships all our life long merely to amuse ourselves.... 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....

Happiness does not consist in pastimes and amusements but in virtuous activities.

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.

It concerns us to know the purposes we seek in life, for then, like archers aiming at a definite mark, we shall be more likely to attain what we want.

The actuality of thought is life.

Now property is part of a household, and the acquisition of property part of household-management; for neither life itself nor the good life is possible without a certain minimum supply of the necessities.

Everything is done with a goal, and that goal is "good".

What is the highest good in all matters of action? To the name, there is almost complete agreement; for uneducated and educated alike call it happiness, and make happiness identical with the good life and successful living. They disagree, however, about the meaning of happiness.

Life is only meaningful when we are striving for a goal .

If what was said in the Ethics is true, that the happy life is the life according to virtue lived without impediment, and that virtue is a mean, then the life which is in a mean, and in a mean attainable by every one, must be the best. And the same principles of virtue and vice are characteristic of cities and of constitutions; for the constitution is in a figure the life of the city.

Take the case of just actions; just punishments and chastisements do indeed spring from a good principle, but they are good only because we cannot do without them - it would be better that neither individuals nor states should need anything of the sort - but actions which aim at honor and advantage are absolutely the best. The conditional action is only the choice of a lesser evil; whereas these are the foundation and creation of good. A good man may make the best even of poverty and disease, and the other ills of life;

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.

It must not be supposed that happiness will demand many or great possessions; for self-sufficiency does not depend on excessive abundance, nor does moral conduct, and it is possible to perform noble deeds even without being ruler of land and sea: one can do virtuous acts with quite moderate resources. This may be clearly observed in experience: private citizens do not seem to be less but more given to doing virtuous actions than princes and potentates. It is sufficient then if moderate resources are forthcoming; for a life of virtuous activity will be essentially a happy life.

Nothing in life is more necessary than friendship.

The quality of a life is determined by its activities

Teachers who educate children deserve more honor than parents who merely gave birth; for bare life is furnished by the one, the other ensures a good life