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Aristotle

124 quotes

• “Philosophy is the science of truth.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “My lectures are published and not published; they will be intelligible to those who heard them, and to none beside.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Letter to Alexander the Great as quoted by William Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences (1837), Ch. 2, Sect. 2

• “Nature does not do anything in vain.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Of things said without any combination, each signifies either substance or quantity or qualification or a relative or where or when or being-in-a-position or having or doing or being affected. To give a rough idea, examples of substance are man, horse; of quantity: four-foot, five-foot; of qualification: white, grammatical; of a relative: double, half, larger; of where: in the Lyceum, in the market-place; of when: yesterday, last-year; of being-in-a-position: is-lying, is sitting; of having: has-shoes-on, has-armour-on; of doing: cutting, burning; of being-affected: being-cut, being-burned.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: 1b25-2a10; (tr.), 1984-1995

• “Knowledge of the fact differs from knowledge of the reason for the fact.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “We may assume the superiority ceteris paribus [all things being equal] of the demonstration which derives from fewer postulates or hypotheses—in short from fewer premisses; for... given that all these are equally well known, where they are fewer knowledge will be more speedily acquired, and that is a desideratum. The argument implied in our contention that demonstration from fewer assumptions is superior may be set out in universal form...”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Richard McKeon (tr.) (1963), p. 150

• “The science which has to do with nature clearly concerns itself for the most part with bodies and magnitudes and their properties and movements, but also with the principles of this sort of substance, as many as they may be.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) first seen 350 BC wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: On the Heavens Book I, pg. 1 (350 BCE)

• “It is necessary that every thing which is harmonized, should be generated from that which is void of harmony, and that which is void of harmony from that which is harmonized. ...But there is no difference, whether this is asserted of harmony, or of order, or composition... the same reason will apply to all of these.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “[U]niversal is known according to reason, but that which is particular, according to sense...”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “This opinion... appears to be ancient... that the one, excess and defect, are the principles of things... It is not... probable that there are more than three principles... [E]ssence is one certain genus of being: so that principles will differ from each other in prior and posterior alone, but not in genus, for in one genus there is always one contrariety, and all contrarieties appear to be referred to one. That there is neither one element, therefore, nor more than two or three, is evident.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “[A]ll things as subsist from nature appear to contain in themselves a principle of motion and permanency; some according to place, others according to increase and diminuation; and others according to change in quality.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Since... nature is a principle of motion and mutation... it is necessary that we should not be ignorant of what motion is... But motion appears to belong to things continuous; and the infinite first presents itself to the view in that which is continuous. ...[F]requently ...those who define the continuous, employ the nature or the infinite, as if that which is divisible to infinity is continuous.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “[I]t is impossible for motion to subsist without place, and void, and time.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “[T]hey pronounce absurdly who thus speak, as the Pythagoreans assert: for at the same time they make the infinite to be essence, and distribute it into parts.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “[I]t is impossible that each of the elements should be infinite. For that is body which has interval on all sides; and that is infinite which has extension without bound.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “[I]t's gravity is the cause; and that which is heavy abides in the middle, and the earth is in the middle: in like manner also, the infinite will abide in itself, through some other cause... and will itself support itself. ...[T]he places of the whole and the part are of the same species; as of the whole earth and a clod, the place is downward; and of the whole of fire, and a spark, the place is upward. So that if the place of the infinite is in itself, there will be the same place also of a part of the infinite.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “[T]he infinite is in capacity. That, however, which is infinite in capacity is not to be assumed as that which is infinite in energy. ...[I]t has its being in capacity, and in division and diminution. ...[I]t is always possible to assume something beyond it. It does not, however, on this account surpass every definite magnitude; as in division it surpasses every definite magnitude, and will be less.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Plato... introduces two infinities, because both in increase and diminution there appears to be transcendency, and a progression to infinity. Though... he did not use them: for neither is there infinity in numbers by diminution or division; since unity is a minimum: nor by increase; for he extends number as far as to the decad.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The bodies of which the world is composed are solids, and therefore have three dimensions. Now, three is the most perfect number,—it is the first of numbers, for of one we do not speak as a number, of two we say both, but three is the first number of which we say all. Moreover, it has a beginning, a middle, and an end.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: I. 1. as translated by William Whewell and as quoted by Florian Cajori, A History of Physics in its Elementary Branches (1899) as Aristotle's proof that the world is perfect.

• “The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “...suppose α without weight, but β possessing weight; and let α pass over space γδ, but β in the same time pass over a space γε,—for that which has weight will be carried through the larger space. If now the heavy body be divided in the proportion that space γε bears to γδ, ... and if the whole is carried through the whole space γε, then it must be that a part in the same time would be carried through γδ...”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Book III Ch. II as quoted by Florian Cajori (1899), as Aristotle's explanation of why bodies fall quicker in exact proportion to their weight.

• “That body is heavier than another which, in an equal bulk, moves downward quicker.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: IV. 1. as quoted by Florian Cajori (1899)

• “It is not necessary to ask whether soul and body are one, just as it is not necessary to ask whether the wax and its shape are one, nor generally whether the matter of each thing and that of which it is the matter are one. For even if one and being are spoken of in several ways, what is properly so spoken of is the actuality.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “But voice is a certain sound of that which is animated; for nothing inanimate emits a voice; but they are said to emit a voice from similitude, as a pipe, and a lyre, and such other inanimate things, have extension, modulation, and dialect; for thus it appears, because voice, also, has these.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Book II: On the soul; In: Aristotle (1808). Works, Vol. 4. p. 63 (412a-424b)

• “The male has more teeth than the female in mankind, and sheep, and goats, and swine. This has not been observed in other animals.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The brain is not responsible for any of the sensations.. the correct view [is] that the seat and source of sensation is the region of the heart….the motions of pleasure and pain, and generally all sensation plainly have their source in the heart.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The essential nature (concerning the soul) cannot be corporeal, yet it is also clear that this soul is present in a particular bodily part, and this one of the parts having control over the rest (heart).”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Nature flies from the infinite, for the infinite is unending or imperfect, and Nature ever seeks an end.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Nature makes nothing in vain.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Concerning the generation of animals akin to them, as hornets and wasps, the facts in all cases are similar to a certain extent, but are devoid of the extraordinary features which characterize bees; this we should expect, for they have nothing divine about them as the bees have.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Just as it sometimes happens that deformed offspring are produced by deformed parents, and sometimes not, so the offspring produced by a female are sometimes female, sometimes not, but male, because the female is as it were a deformed male.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Generation of Animals as translated by Arthur Leslie Peck (1943), p. 175

• “Music directly represents the passion of the soul. If one listens to the wrong kind of music, he will become the wrong kind of person.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “All men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves; and above all others the sense of sight. For not only with a view to action, but even when we are not going to do anything, we prefer sight to almost everything else. The reason is that this, most of all the senses, makes us know and brings to light many differences between things.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: The first sentence is in the Oxford Dictionary of Scientific Quotations (2005), 21:10

• “But as more arts were invented, and some were directed to the necessities of life, others to recreation, the inventors of the latter were naturally always regarded as wiser than the inventors of the former, because their branches of knowledge did not aim at utility. ... This is why the mathematical arts were founded in Egypt; for there the priestly caste was allowed to be at leisure.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “οὐ γὰρ δεῖν ἐπιτάττεσθαι τὸν σοφὸν ἀλλ᾽ ἐπιτάττειν, καὶ οὐ τοῦτον ἑτέρῳ πείθεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τούτῳ τὸν ἧττον σοφόν.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: 982a.15, W. Ross, trans., The Basic Works of Aristotle (2001), p. 691.

• “That which is desirable on its own account and for the sake of knowing it is more of the nature of wisdom than that which is desirable on account of its results.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: 982a16, Complete Works, vol. 2, p. 1554

• “τὸ γὰρ αὐτὸ ἅμα ὑπάρχειν τε καὶ μὴ ὑπάρχειν ἀδύνατον τῷ αὐτῷ καὶ κατὰ τὸ αὐτό （καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα προσδιορισαίμεθ᾽ ἄν, ἔστω προσδιωρισμένα πρὸς τὰς λογικὰς δυσχερείας）: αὕτη δὴ πασῶν ἐστὶ βεβαιοτάτη τῶν ἀρχῶν: ἔχει γὰρ τὸν εἰρημένον διορισμόν. ἀδύνατον γὰρ ὁντινοῦν ταὐτὸν ὑπολαμβάνειν εἶναι καὶ μὴ εἶναι, καθάπερ τινὲς οἴονται λέγειν Ἡράκλειτον.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Book IV, 1005

• “πάντων γὰρ ὅσα πλείω μέρη ἔχει καὶ μὴ ἔστιν οἷον σωρὸς τὸ πᾶν.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “εἰ οὖν οὕτως εὖ ἔχει, ὡς ἡμεῖς ποτέ, ὁ θεὸς ἀεί, θαυμαστόν: εἰ δὲ μᾶλλον, ἔτι θαυμασιώτερον. ἔχει δὲ ὧδε. καὶ ζωὴ δέ γε ὑπάρχει: ἡ γὰρ νοῦ ἐνέργεια ζωή, ἐκεῖνος δὲ ἡ ἐνέργεια: ἐνέργεια δὲ ἡ καθ᾽ αὑτὴν ἐκείνου ζωὴ ἀρίστη καὶ ἀΐδιος.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “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.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Every art, and every system, and in like manner every action and purpose aims, it is thought, at some good; for which reason a common and by no means a bad description of the good is, ‘that at which all things aim.’ (Bk I, Ch I)”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “But it is clear there is a difference in the ends proposed: for in some cases they are activities, and in others results beyond the mere activities, and where there are certain ends beyond and beside the actions, the results are naturally superior to the activities. Now, as there are numerous kinds of actions and numerous arts and sciences, it follows that the ends are also various. Thus the end of the healing art is health, of ship-building ships, of strategy victory, of economy wealth. (Bk I, Ch I)”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “If, then, in the sphere of action there is some one end which we desire for its own sake, and for the sake of which we desire every thing else; and if we do not choose every thing for the sake of something else, for this would go on without limit, and our desire would be idle and futile, it is clear that this must be the supreme good, and the best thing of all. (Bk I, Ch I)”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “And surely to know what this good is, is of great importance for the conduct of life, for in that case we shall be like archers shooting at a definite mark, and shall be more likely to do what is right. But, if this is the case, we must try to comprehend, in outline at least, what it is and to which of the sciences it belongs. (Bk I, Ch I)”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Perhaps then we must begin with such facts as are known to us from individual experience. It is necessary therefore that the person who is to study, with any tolerable chance of profit, the principles of nobleness and justice and politics generally, should have received a good moral training. (Bk I, Ch II)”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “If a man knows what it is right to do, he does not require a formal reason. And a person that has been thus trained, either possesses these first principles already, or can easily acquire them. (Bk I, Ch II)”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “As for him who neither possesses nor can acquire them, let him take to heart the words of Hesiod: ‘ He is the best of all who thinks for himself in all things. He, too, is good who takes advice from a wiser (person). But he who neither thinks for himself, nor lays to heart another's wisdom, this is a useless man.’ (Bk. 1, Chapter II)”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Now men seem, not unreasonably, to form their notions of the supreme good and of happiness from the lives of men.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The majority of mankind and people who lack refinement conceive it to be pleasure, and hence they approve a life of sensual enjoyment. (Bk. 1, Chapter III)”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “There are three lines of life which stand out prominently to view: the life of pleasure, the political life, and the life of reflection.”

  Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

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