Aristotle Quotes on Man (56 Quotes)


    There is a foolish corner in the brain of the wisest man.

    Man is by nature a political animal.

    Great men are always of a nature originally melancholy.

    The state is a creation of nature and man is by nature a political animal.

    At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.


    We praise a man who feels angry on the right grounds and against the right persons and also in the right manner at the right moment and for the right length of time.

    No one loves the man whom he fears.

    To write well, express yourself like common people, but think like a wise man. Or, think as wise men do, but speak as the common people do.

    The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently; but he is willing, in great crises, to give even his life - knowing that under certain conditions it is not worthwhile to live.

    The generality of men are naturally apt to be swayed by fear rather than reverence, and to refrain from evil rather because of the punishment that it brings than because of its own foulness.

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

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

    Perfect friendship is the friendship of men who are good, and alike in excellence; for these wish well alike to each other qua good, and they are good in themselves.

    Men are swayed more by fear than by reverence.

    Men come together in cities in order to live they remain together in order to live the good life

    There are three classes of men lovers of wisdom, lovers of honour, lovers of gain.

    Jealousy is both reasonable and belongs to reasonable men, while envy is base and belongs to the base, for the one makes himself get good things by jealousy, while the other does not allow his neighbour to have them through envy.

    Men cling to life even at the cost of enduring great misfortune

    Men have a sufficient natural instinct for what is true, and usually do arrive at the truth.

    Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all.

    Wicked men obey from fear good men, from love.

    Educated men are as much superior to uneducated men as the living are to the dead.

    Quite often good things have hurtful consequences. There are instances of men who have been ruined by their money or killed by their courage.

    It is clearly better that property should be private, but the use of it common; and the special business of the legislator is to create in men this benevolent disposition.


    The appropriate age for marriage is around eighteen for girls and thirty-seven for men.

    Man is naturally a political animal.

    Melancholy men are of all others the most witty.

    When their adventures do not succeed, however, they run away but it was the mark of a brave man to face things that are, and seem, terrible for a man, because it is noble to do so and disgraceful not to do so.

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

    Hope is the dream of a waking man.

    Bad men are full of repentance.

    The Good of man is the active exercise of his soul's faculties in conformity with excellence or virtue, or if there be several human excellences or virtues, in conformity with the best and most perfect among them

    Wicked men obey out of fear good men, out of love.

    Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.

    A democracy is a government in the hands of men of low birth, no property, and vulgar employments.

    A man is the origin of his action.

    Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses or avoids.

    A bad man can do a million times more harm than a beast

    Men create gods after their own image, not only with regard to their form but with regard to their mode of life.

    Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.

    Again, men in general desire the good, and not merely what their fathers had.

    The vigorous are no better than the lazy during one half of life, for all men are alike when asleep.

    If purpose, then, is inherent in art, so is it in Nature also. The best illustration is the case of a man being his own physician, for Nature is like that agent and patient at once.

    For 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.

    Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.

    He is his own best friend, and takes delight in privacy whereas the man of no virtue or ability is his own worst enemy and is afraid of solitude.

    Excellence, then, is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean, relative to us, this being determined by reason and in the way in which the man of practical wisdom would determine it.

    Therefore, the good of man must be the end of the science of politics.

    Men regard it as their right to return evil for evil - and if they cannot, feel they have lost their liberty.


    More Aristotle Quotations (Based on Topics)


    Man - Friendship - Life - Education - Nature - Happiness - Mind - Truth - Vice & Virtue - Actions - Art - Youth - People - Law & Regulation - Animals - Wisdom & Knowledge - Courage - Habit - Soul - View All Aristotle Quotations

    Related Authors


    Sun Tzu - John Locke - Immanuel Kant - Francis Bacon - Deepak Chopra - Theodor Adorno - Mortimer Adler - Epicurus - Charles de Montesquieu - Antisthenes


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