100+ Aristotle Popular Quotes That Inspire and Motivate

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

"Virtue is the golden mean between two vices, the one of excess and the other of deficiency."

"Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts."

"He who has overcome his fears will taste of every joy."

"The moral virtues, then, are produced in us neither by nature nor against nature. We are by nature equipped to receive them, and we develop them through habit."

"Pleasure completes virtue, not as the physical glow completes the healthy body, but as the bloom of youth completes the bodily prime."

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

"Good habits formed at youth make all the difference."

"Happiness depends upon ourselves."

"To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing."

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

"Excellence is never an accident. It's always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution."

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

"Happiness is not pleasure, reputation, or honor. It is the exercise of virtue over a complete life."

"The happy life is thought to be one of virtue; and this kind of life is a thing which belongs to no single individual but to those who live together."

"Happiness is a disposition, not a state."

"The good for man is an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue."

"One swallow does not make a summer, nor does one day; and so too one day, or a short time, does not make a man blessed and happy."

"The life of money-making is one undertaken under compulsion, and wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else."

"All men agree that happiness is the highest good."

"Happiness depends more on ourselves than on external conditions."

"The final and perfect good is happiness, which is none of the things we have mentioned, but consists in activity in accordance with reason."

"The happy person lives well and fares well; such a person acts rightly and beautifully."

"True happiness is self-sufficient and complete in itself."

"Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom."

"The more you know, the more you realize you don't know."

"The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger."

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

"The end of labor is to gain leisure."

"The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet."

"All men by nature desire to know."

"Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk."

"The first step in wisdom is to recognize the foolishness of thinking you already know everything."

"The wise man is not concerned with what is pleasant, but with what is necessary."

"Learning is not child’s play; we cannot learn without pain."

"The wise man seeks not pleasure, but freedom from pain."

"Education is the best provision for old age."

"Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those give them the art of living well."

"The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet."

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

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

"He who has overcome his fears will taste of every joy."

"The free man is the one who lives as he wishes, not as others compel him."

"Teaching is the highest form of understanding."

"The sign of a cultivated mind is the ability to consider an idea without accepting it."

"Young people are in a condition like permanent intoxication, because they are feverish and hot, and owing to this their judgment is impaired."

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

"Character may almost be called invisible, but its effects are clearly seen."

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

"Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."

"It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it."

"The good man is the measure of all things."

"A friend to all is a friend to none."

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

"Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them."

"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal."

"The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts."

"To perceive is to suffer."

"He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god."

"The brave man is he who conquers not pleasure, but pain."

"Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies."

"The love of friends is the greatest of possessions."

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

"Friendship is essentially a partnership."

"A friend to all is a friend to none."

"The wish for friendship comes quickly; friendship does not."

"Friends enhance our ability to think and live well."

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one!'"

"There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship."

"Loving friends are essential to a virtuous life."

"The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose."

"Goodwill is a friendly feeling, but not the same as friendship."

"Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others."

"The brave man is he who conquers not pleasure, but pain."

"He who has overcome his fears will taste of every joy."

"I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies."

"The courageous man endures fear for the sake of what is noble."

"Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil."

"Even in the midst of suffering, the brave find peace."

"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority."

"Bravery is the mean between cowardice and recklessness."

"The brave man feels fear but conquers it."

"To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill."

"The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace."

"The worst form of government is that of a tyrant; the best is that of a good king."

"The law is reason free from passion."

"The citizen should be molded to suit the form of government under which he lives."

"The basis of a democratic state is liberty."

"The people, when they are assembled, are more incorruptible than the few."

"The rule of law is better than the rule of any individual."

"Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime."

"The state exists for the sake of a good life."

"The young are in a condition like permanent intoxication, because they are feverish and hot."

"The free man is the one who lives as he wishes."

"A state is not a mere society having a common place, established for the prevention of mutual crime and for the sake of exchange."

"The end of politics is the good life."

"Time crumbles things; everything grows old under the power of time and is forgotten through the lapse of time."

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

"The energy of the mind is the essence of life."

"The smallest recognizable change is called the moment."

"For the young, time seems long; for the old, short."

"Time is the most indefinite of all things, yet we often treat it as if it were fixed."

"The now is always the same, though the time is always different."

"The present is the boundary between past and future."

"Delay robs the thief of opportunity, but gives the wise man time."

"Time is a number of motion in respect of before and after."

"The opportune moment is brief and must be seized."

"Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope."

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well."

"Man is a political animal."

"Life is defined in terms of activity."

"The whole is more than the sum of its parts."

"To live alone one must be a beast or a god."

"Nature does nothing in vain."

"The function of man is to live a certain kind of life, that involves the activity of the soul in accordance with reason."

"The end of labor is to gain leisure."

"The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain."

"The life of man is intended to be lived in accordance with virtue."

"We are not given life to simply exist, but to grow, to learn, to love."

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