Citater af Aristoteles (384-322 B.C.).

Født i Stagira i Makedonien. Hans fader Nicomachus, som var læge, døde da Aristoteles var ung. I 367 blev Aristoteles sendt til Athen for studere på Platons akademi. Her blev han - først som elev siden som lærer - de følgende 20 år. Da Platon døde i 347, besluttede Aristoteles at rejse. I 343 inviterede Philip af Makedonien Aristoteles til at komme til hans hof som lærer for hans 13 årige søn Alexander. I 335, efter Philips død, vendte Aristoteles tilbage til Athen. Lidt udenfor byen lejede han nogle bygninger og etablerede sin skole, Lyceum, hvor han underviste, skrev og diskuterede filosofi med sine elever og kolleger.Under hans ledelse blev der forsket i biologiske, filosofiske og videnskabelige emner.

Af sine venner lærer den vise meget.

Alle mennesker har fra naturens hånd et begær efter at vide.

Alle videnskabers begyndelse er forbavselse over, at tingene er, som de er.

Alt hvad vi gør, gør vi med henblik på noget andet.

At have mange venner er ikke at have nogen venner.

De, der drikker vin, falder med ansigtet først, mens de, der drikker øl, falder med nakken først. Af vin bliver man nemlig tung i hovedet, af øl bliver man let.

Den nærige samler penge, som skulle han leve evigt, den ødsle spreder dem, som lå han for døden.

Den uddannede afviger fra den ikke uddannede så meget som en levende afviger fra en død.

Der var aldrig et geni uden et stænk af galskab.

Det er bedre for en by at blive regeret af en god mand end af gode love.

Det er især Homer, som har lært andre digtere at fortælle løgne så dygtigt.

Det er muligt for en uddannet hjerne at arbejde med en idé uden at acceptere den.

Det vi lærer, lærer vi ved at gøre der.

Egoisme er ikke egenkærlighed, men en umådelig passion for jeg`et.

Enhver kan blive vred - det er let; men at blive vred på den rette person i det rette omfang og på rette tid af den rette årsag --det er ikke enhver beskåret.

Filosof, hvad er retfærdighed? - At give hver mand hans egen.

Filosofi er den videnskab, som arbejder med sandhed.

Følelsen er den tanke, der er i bedst overenstemmelse med naturen.

Glæde afhænger af os selv.

Guderne er også glade for en joke.

Handel, lønarbejde og krig udnytter menneskerne, i modsætning til agerbruget, som udnytter naturen.

Hjernen er et organ af mindre betydning, sjælen sidder i hjertet, som styrer kroppen.

Hvad er en ven? En enkelt sjæl bosat i to kroppe.

I alle ting i naturen findes et vidunder.

Jeg regner ham for taprest, som overvinder sit begær, end ham, som overvinder sin fjende, for den hårdeste sejr er sejren over sig selv.

Lykken er at være sig selv nok.

Løgneren bliver ikke troet, når han taler sandhed.

Mellem venner er der ikke behov for retfærdighed.

Mennesket er et politisk dyr.

Mødre er gladere for deres børn end fædre er, for de er mere sikre på, at det er deres egne.

Naturen gør aldrig noget overflødigt.

Når lykken ler, hvad skal man så med venner?

Selv det klogeste menneske har et tåbeligt hjørne i hjernen.

Tanker flytter intet alene.

Tvivlen er vishedens begyndelse.

Uddannelsens rødder er bitre, men dens frugt er sød.

Vi er, hvad vi plejer at gøre. Excellence er derfor ikke en handling, men en vane.

Vi fører krig for at leve i fred.

Engelske citater

A very populous city can rarely, if ever, be well governed.

All men by nature desire to know.

All paid employments absorb and degrade the mind.

All proofs rest on premises.

All that we do is done with an eye to something else.

Anybody can become angry--that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way--that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.

Between friends there is no need of justice.

Change in all things is sweet.

Consider pleasures as they depart, not as they come.

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

Education is the best provision for old age.

Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered.

Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.

Happiness depends upon ourselves.

Happiness is the highest good, being a realization and perfect practice of virtue, which some can attain, while others have little or none of it.

Hope is a waking dream.

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is the victory over self.

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost.

In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous.

It is better for a city to be governed by a good man than by good laws.

It is Homer who has chiefly taught other poets the art of telling lies skillfully.

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

It is the mark of an educated mind to rest satisfied with the degree of precision which the nature of the subject admits and not to seek exactness where only an approximation is possible.

It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.

It was through the feeling of wonder that men now and at first began to philosophize.

Liars when they speak the truth are not believed.

Man is by nature a political animal.

Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.

Nature never makes anything that is superfluous.

No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness.

Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved.

Philosopher, what is justice? - To give every man his own.

Philosophy is the science which considers truth.

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.

Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.

Revolutions are not trifles, but spring from trifles.

Some men are just as sure of the truth of their opinions as are others of what they know.

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

The best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.

The chief forms of beauty are order and symmetry and definiteness.

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

The end of labor is to gain leisure.

The gods are too fond of a joke.

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

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

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

There was never a genius without a tincture of madness.

This is the reason why mothers are devoted to their children more than fathers: it is that they suffer more in giving them birth and are more certain that they are their own.

Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach.

Those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well.

To enjoy the things we ought and to hate the things we ought has the greatest bearing on excellence of character.

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

We give up leisure in order that we may have leisure, just as we go to war in order that we may have peace.

We make war that we may live in peace.

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

What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing.

Whether we will philosophize or we won't philosophize, we must philosophize.

Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is slow-ripening fruit.

Wit is educated insolence.

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