100+ Famous Aristotle Quotes That Inspire Wisdom and Success

"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."

"He who has overcome his fears will taste freedom."

"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work."

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

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

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

"Happiness depends upon ourselves."

"All men seek happiness, but differ about what it is."

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

"We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts."

"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."

"The end of labor is to gain leisure."

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

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

"Doubt is the origin of wisdom."

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

"The first step in wisdom is to recognize the falseness of appearance."

"Man is by nature a political animal."

"Wit is educated insolence."

"The basis of a democratic state is liberty."

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

"Happiness depends upon ourselves."

"Happiness is a kind of activity, not a condition."

"He is happy who lives in accordance with complete virtue and is sufficiently equipped with external goods."

"The happy life is thought to be lived 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 good life is a life of action in accordance with virtue."

"No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness."

"The final cause is happiness, which is the end toward which all actions tend."

"Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient."

"All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reasoning, passion, desire."

"The soul never thinks without a picture."

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

"The only true friend is one who will stand by you even when he disagrees with you."

"What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies."

"Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness."

"The most perfect friendship is the friendship of good people similar in virtue."

"Without friends, no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods."

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

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

"Loving friends are united not by words, but by hearts."

"Friendship is essentially a partnership."

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

"One person cannot always be a good friend to many others."

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

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

"Education is the best provision for old age."

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

"For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them."

"He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander."

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

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

"The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think."

"Young people are in a condition like permanent intoxication, because they are heated by nature as by wine."

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

"Teaching is the highest form of understanding."

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

"He who has overcome his fears will taste freedom."

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

"Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way."

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

"The brave man is not he who feels no fear, but he who conquers that fear."

"Even in the midst of winter, there is within me an invincible summer."

"Freedom is obedience to self-formulated rules."

"The end of labor is to gain leisure."

"Poverty does not take away our freedom; it only limits our choices."

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

"The goal of life is living in agreement with nature."

"He who is defective in ability to render service or to command is not a part of the state."

"The leader must be able to persuade, not compel."

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

"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 state is a creation of nature, and prior to the individual."

"A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion."

"The people, when they are numerous, may collectively surpass the few in excellence."

"A king is a statesman who governs according to law."

"The good of the people is the greatest law."

"Rhetoric is the counterpart of logic."

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

"The oldest, shortest words—'yes' and 'no'—are those which require the most thought."

"Change is the essence of life."

"The possible is that which is capable of being."

"Time is the most indefinite of all things."

"The end of a thing is its perfection; perhaps it is by nature, therefore, that all things seek their own perfection."

"Motion is the fulfillment of what exists potentially."

"The universe is infinite in all directions."

"The present pleasure is often purchased at the price of future pain."

"Nature abhors a vacuum."

"Everything that changes moves from potentiality to actuality."

"The beginning of the universe was also its end."

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

"Purpose is the starting point of all achievement."

"Action is the foundational key to all success."

"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance."

"The good life is a life of action in accordance with virtue."

"Choice is deliberate desire."

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

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

"Man is a being who acts for the sake of ends."

"Final causes are the most important in nature."

"All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reasoning, passion, desire."

"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."

"Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men."

"The speaker who uses moral character makes use of persuasion almost without argument."

"The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray."

"Persuasion is achieved by the speaker's personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible."

"The three modes of persuasion are ethos, pathos, and logos."

"Speech is a representation of the characters of the speakers and of what they put forth."

"The duty of rhetoric is to deal with things about which we deliberate, but for which we have no systematic knowledge."

"The right word at the right time is worth more than silver and gold."

"Rhetoric is the counterpart of logic."

"To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful."

"The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear."

"The art of communication is the language of leadership."