Quotes from Aristotle

Those who assert that the mathematical sciences say nothing of the beautiful or the good are in error. For these sciences say and prove a great deal about them; if they do not expressly mention them, but prove attributes which are their results or definitions, it is not true that they tell us nothing about them. The chief forms of beauty are order and symmetry and definiteness, which the mathematical sciences demonstrate in a special degree.

Anyone can get angry, 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 everyone, nor is it easy.

It is their character indeed that makes people who they are. But it is by reason of their actions that they are happy or the reverse.

Evil brings men together.

Melancholy men, of all others, are the most witty.

Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind.

Even that some people try deceived me many times ... I will not fail to believe that somewhere, someone deserves my trust.

It is impossible, or not easy, to alter by argument what has long been absorbed by habit

Even in adversity, nobility shines through, when a man endures repeated and severe misfortune with patience, not owing to insensibility but from generosity and greatness of soul.

We should behave to our friends as we would wish our friends behave to us

He is happy who lives in accordance with complete virtue and is sufficiently equipped with external goods, not for some chance period but throughout a complete life.

the greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor. This alone cannot be imparted by another; it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances.

Accordingly, the poet should prefer probable impossibilities to improbable possibilities.

A likely impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility. The story should never be made up of improbable incidents; there should be nothing of the sort in it.

Wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else.

Without virtue, man is most unholy and savage, and worst in regard to sex and eating.

Courage is the mother of all virtues because without it, you cannot consistently perform the others.

he who had never learned to obey cannot be a good commander

Happiness then, is found to be something perfect and self sufficient, being the end to which our actions are directed.

Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.

We acquire a particular quality by acting in a particular way.

When states are democratically governed according to law, there are no demagogues, and the best citizens are securely in the saddle; but where the laws are not sovereign, there you find demagogues. The people become a monarch... such people, in its role as a monarch, not being controlled by law, aims at sole power and becomes like a master.

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

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