Quotes About Aristotle

The plot, then, is the first principle, and, as it were, the soul of a tragedy; Character holds the second place.

Educating the head without educating the heart is no education at all

The many are more incorruptible than the few; they are like the greater quantity of water which is less easily corrupted than a little.

The mathematical sciences particularly exhibit order symmetry and limitations; and these are the greatest forms of the beautiful.

What makes a man a 'sophist' is not his faculty, but his moral purpose. (1355b 17)

No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness. - Aristotle (Attributed by Seneca in Moral Essays, De Tranquillitate Animi On Tranquility of Mind, sct. 17, subsct. 10.)

History describes what has happened, poetry what might. Hence poetry is something more philosophic and serious than history; for poetry speaks of what is universal, history of what is particular.

The Ideal age for marriage in men is 35. The Ideal age for marriage in women is 18

It is impossible that there should be demonstration of absolutely everything; [for then] there would be an infinite regress, so that there would still be no demonstration.

Any one can get angry—that is easy—or give or spend money; but to do this to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive, and in the right way, that is not for every one, nor is it easy.

And of course, the brain is not responsible for any of the sensations at all. The correct view is that the seat and source of sensation is the region of the heart.

The female is, as it were, a mutilated male, and the catamenia are semen, only not pure; for there is only one thing they have not in them, the principle of soul.

No more will there be any difference between 'the ideal good' and 'good' in so far as both are good.

What is the Good for man? It must be the ultimate end or object of human life: something that is in itself completely satisfying. Happiness fits this description…we always choose it for itself, and never for any other reason.

The greater the length, the more beautiful will the piece be by reason of its size, provided that the whole be perspicuous." (VII)

The void is 'not-being,' and no part of 'what is' is a 'not-being,'; for what 'is' in the strict sense of the term is an absolute plenum. This plenum, however, is not 'one': on the contrary, it is a 'many' infinite in number and invisible owing to the minuteness of their bulk.

Tragedy, however, is an imitation not only of a complete action, but also of incidents arousing pity and fear.

a poet must be a composer of plots rather than of verses

To Aristotle or to Plato the State is, above all, a large and powerful educative agency which gives the individual increased opportunities of self-development and greater capacities for the enjoyment of life.

To feel these feelings at the right time, on the right occasion, towards the right people, for the right purpose and in the right manner, is to feel the best amount of them, which is the mean amount - and the best amount is of course the mark of virtue.

Therefore, even the lover of myth is a philosopher; for myth is composed of wonder.

The devotee of myth is in a way a philosopher, for myth is made up of things that cause wonder. (Metaphysics, I, 982b 18–19)

Comedy, as we said, is an imitation of people of a lower sort, though not in respect to every vice; rather, what is ridiculous is part of what is ugly.

not seek for exactness in all matters alike, but in each according to the subject-matter, and so far as properly belongs to the system.