Aristotle is an ancient thinker who was a student of Plato. Instructed Alexander the Great. He made a huge contribution to science, because even centuries later, scientists use the conceptual apparatus that was created by the thinker. Currently, we have about 45-50 books written by him, which have survived to our times. His ideas also became the basis for the natural sciences.
Aristotle was born in the city of Stagira in Ancient Greece. His father was the doctor of Alexander the Great's grandfather. His mother, Festida, also had noble roots. This heritage helped him get a good education.
From a very early age, Aristotle studied medicine, thinking that he would follow in his father's footsteps. The Greek also studied philosophy, because this science in the culture of Ancient Greece was considered very important for healing.
At the age of 17, the young man arrived in Athens after being orphaned. He was in Plato's Academy until his teacher died. There Aristotle became interested in the natural sciences. Over time, the philosopher came to the conclusion that he did not share the ideas of his teacher and began to form his own.
In 345 BC. The thinker left Athens and went to Asia Minor Greece at the invitation of King Philip II. The head wanted to make Aristotle the teacher of his son, Alexander. However, there was no trusting relationship between the teacher and the student. After Alexander ascended the throne, he tried to distance himself from his teacher as quickly as possible, since their plans for the future did not coincide at all.
Returning to Athens, Aristotle opened his own school of philosophy, the Lyceum, another peripatetic school. It is located next to the Temple of Apollo Lyceum, which explains the name of the establishment. He taught the children mathematics, philosophy, poetry, physics, politics, rhetoric, ethics, and art.
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The philosopher is also known for his idea of a hierarchical system of categories. He believed that everything that exists should be distributed into formations of inorganic origin.
He established several arrangements of states which his followers adhered to. Aristotle divided the form of government into 3 types, characterizing them as “right” and “wrong”.
Aristotle's ideas did not pass by art. He described his thoughts on the development of theater in the work “poetics”. Only 1 part of this work has reached us. The philosopher put forward thoughts about the existence of the phenomenon of imitation, which a person is capable of in order to receive pleasure.
Another voluminous work by Aristotle is “On the Soul.” In it, he distinguishes between the existence of man and the animal world, the plant world. Describes the 5 senses and 3 abilities of the human soul.
In addition, the philosopher left many works on astronomy, physics and politics. The collection of his works is usually called the “Aristotelian Corpus”.
After the death of the king, various kinds of riots arose, which went under the slogan of overthrowing Macedonian rule. As the teacher of Alexander the Great, Aristotle was accused of blasphemy. After leaving Athens, he goes to the island of Euboea, where he is overtaken by death from a severe form of stomach disease.
Aristotle left for his followers many works and ideas that are still used in science today. Aristotle was distinguished by a sharp mind and good presentation of words. We invite you to familiarize yourself with some of his statements and aphorisms.
Sayings about life
- For two years a person learns to speak, and then for the rest of his life to remain silent.
- Anyone who wants to succeed must ask the right preliminary questions.
- Some save as if they were going to live forever, others spend as if they were going to die immediately. (There are people as stingy as if they were going to live forever, and so wasteful as if they were going to die tomorrow.)
- A sage does not strive for pleasure, he strives for the absence of suffering. (A reasonable person pursues what relieves him of suffering, and not what is pleasant.)
- We are deprived of leisure in order to have leisure, and we wage war in order to live in peace.
- An unthought life is worthless.
- Life requires movement.
- For happiness you also need an opportunity.
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The concept of metaphysics
The essence of Aristotle's metaphysics is a criticism of the works of Plato and his concept of the separation of the world of ideas and the world of things. The scientist believes that form and matter are inseparable from each other. Matter contains the desire to realize in life the possibilities that it contains.
The concept of “form” according to Aristotle includes three points: the essence of the object “in the present tense”, and the potentially possible things that can come out of it later - the result of a certain act of creativity that created it.
The transition of potential possibility into existing reality is movement. In the process of movement, simple things turn into more and more complex ones. Gradually, they approach perfection and their original source - God. According to this concept, God is pure thinking, which has no expression in material form. In the future, thinking simply cannot develop - it has reached perfection, but God does not exist separately from the material world.
Sayings about love
- Love is a theorem that must be proven every day.
- To love means to wish for another what you consider to be good, and to wish, moreover, not for your own sake, but for the sake of the one you love, and try, if possible, to deliver this good to him.
- Those who raise and raise children well should be valued more than those who give birth to them.
- To love yourself is better than to be loved: loving is a kind of action that gives pleasure and good, and being loved does not cause any activity in the object of love.
- He who does not always love does not love.
Aphorisms about teaching
- Rhetoric is the ability to find possible ways of persuasion regarding any given subject.
- A proverb is a surviving fragment of ancient philosophy.
- To speak well about virtue does not mean to be virtuous, and to be just in thoughts does not mean to be just in practice.
- Good everywhere depends on the observance of two conditions: the correct establishment of final goals and the search for appropriate means leading to the final goal.
Tips for everyday life
- Getting started is more than half the battle.
A practical thought that everyone encounters. The hardest thing is to force yourself to take action. Once you start any business, you will bring it to the end, you will find ways and means. In Rus' they said: “dashing trouble is the beginning”, “the eyes are afraid, but the hands are doing.”
- Plurality of power is not good: let there be one ruler.
Actively involved in political life, the philosopher understood the importance of the principle of unity of command, which works in all human organizations to this day.
- The subject of the decision is not the goal, but the means to achieve it.
A practical thought. Having chosen a goal, you cannot doubt it. To succeed, you just have to choose your tools and change your methods.
Statements about the essence of man
- A generous person is one who gives the right thing to the right person at the right time.
- We work to have free time and fight to live peacefully.
- What you hope for is what you will get.
- Selfishness does not consist in loving oneself, but in a greater degree of this love than it should.
- Some save as if they should live forever, others spend as if they would die immediately.
- A generous person is characterized by the fact that he does not seek benefit for himself, but is willing to do good to others.
- To awaken the conscience of a scoundrel, you need to slap him in the face.
- He who is incapable of repentance is incurable.
- The one who rules over the passions is not the one who completely abstains from them, but the one who uses them as one controls a ship or a horse, that is, directs them where it is necessary and useful.
- Evil deeds are done out of good will.
- Most reasoning is not capable of turning to moral perfection, because most people by nature tend to submit not to a sense of shame, but to fear, and to abstain from bad things not because it is shameful, but for fear of revenge.
- The one who rules over the passions is not the one who completely abstains from them, but the one who uses them as one controls a ship or a horse, that is, directs them where it is necessary and useful.
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Aristotle Quotes
Prepared by: Dmitry Sirotkin
I present to you a selection of quotes from the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 - 321 BC).
He was a man of diverse knowledge and interests, so he spoke about many things .
Quotes are grouped by topic: life ethics, friendship, human manifestations, upbringing and education, people, virtue, love, funny, morality, courage, actions, passions, life, power, art, speech, women and men, happiness, justice, knowledge , music, mind, fear, drunkenness, about oneself, truth, honor, reasonable, action, medicine, beauty, science.
About life ethics
Although we are mortal, we should not submit to corruptible things, but, as far as possible, rise to immortality and live in accordance with what is best in us.
Good everywhere depends on the observance of two conditions: the correct establishment of final goals and the search for appropriate means leading to the final goal.
We should treat our friends the same way we would like to be treated by our friends.
Of two evils choose the less.
A sure way to judge a person's character and intelligence is by his choice of books and friends.
Each person should preferentially take on what is possible for him and what is decent for him.
It is better to fight among a few good people against many bad ones, than among many bad people against a few good ones.
One should not be afraid of poverty, or illness, or in general anything that is not caused by depravity and does not depend on the person himself.
It is better to do a small part of the task perfectly than to do ten times more poorly.
One must hunt both wild animals and those people who, being by nature destined for submission, do not want to obey; such a war is just by nature.
About friendship
A friend is one soul living in two bodies.
Friendship is the most necessary thing for life, since no one would wish for a life without friends, even if he had all the other benefits. No one would agree to live without friends, even if he were offered all other benefits in return.
We all experience double the bliss when we can share it with friends.
In poverty and other misfortunes in life, true friends are a reliable refuge.
Enjoying communication is the main sign of friendship.
Friendship is not only invaluable, but also beautiful; we praise the one who loves his friends, and having many friends seems like something wonderful, and some people think that being a good person and being a friend are the same thing.
Friendship is content with what is possible without demanding what is due.
A friend to everyone is a friend to no one.
Oh my friends! There are no friends in the world!
He who has friends has no friend.
By the way, quotes about friendship
About human manifestations
The slave prefers the slave, the master prefers the master.
Modesty is the middle ground between shamelessness and shyness.
Hope is a daydream.
Selfishness does not consist in loving oneself, but in a greater degree of this love than it should.
Conscience is the correct judgment of a good person.
There are people as stingy as if they were going to live forever, and so wasteful as if they were going to die tomorrow.
A generous person is one who gives the right thing to the right person at the right time.
Gratitude gets old quickly.
Ambitious people are more envious than people without ambition.
Excess of pleasure is licentiousness and is to be condemned.
To awaken the conscience of a scoundrel, you need to slap him in the face.
All flatterers are henchmen.
About upbringing and education
The root of the teaching is bitter, but its fruits are sweet.
Education needs three things: talent, science, exercise.
Education is an adornment in happiness, and a refuge in misfortune.
It is quite obvious that from among the subjects useful in everyday life, one should study those that are truly necessary, but not all without exception.
Education is the best food for old age.
Everyone who has thought about the art of governing people is convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.
The difference between an educated and an uneducated person is the same as between a living and a dead one.
Teachers to whom children owe their upbringing are more honorable than parents: some give us only life, while others give us a good life.
To succeed, students need to catch up with those who are ahead and not wait for those who are behind.
In education, the development of skills must precede the development of the mind.
About people
Man by nature is a social being.
A person outside of society is either a god or a beast.
Man is a political animal.
We are what we do all the time. Perfection, therefore, is not an action, but a habit.
The purpose of man is intelligent activity.
Just as a horse was born for running, a bull for plowing, and a dog for searching, so man was born for two things - for intellect and action, like some kind of mortal god.
A man who has achieved complete perfection is superior to all animals; but he is lower than everyone else if he lives without laws and without justice. Indeed, there is nothing more monstrous than armed injustice.
Each person individually and everyone together has a certain goal, striving for which they choose one thing and avoid another.
Our character is the result of our behavior.
We are deprived of leisure in order to have leisure, and we wage war in order to live in peace.
By the way, quotes about people
About virtue
The quality of virtue consists rather in doing good than in accepting it, and in doing excellent deeds rather than in not doing shameful ones.
To do good, you must first possess it.
Good for a person is the active use of the faculties of his soul in accordance with high dignity or virtue.
A generous person is characterized by the fact that he does not seek benefit for himself, but is willing to do good to others.
To speak well about virtue does not yet mean to be virtuous, and to be just in thoughts does not mean to be just in deed.
Moral virtue is reflected in pleasures and suffering: for if we act badly for the sake of pleasure, then we shy away from beautiful actions because of suffering.
We reason not in order to know what virtue is, but in order to become good people.
About love
To love means to wish for another what you consider to be good, and to wish, moreover, not for your own sake, but for the sake of the one you love, and try, if possible, to deliver this good to him.
He who does not always love does not love.
To love yourself is better than to be loved: loving is a kind of action that gives pleasure and good, and being loved does not cause any activity in the object of love. Nevertheless, out of ambition, people prefer to be favorites rather than to love themselves, since being a favorite is associated with some kind of superiority.
Every animal is sad after intercourse.
He who by nature belongs not to himself, but to another, and at the same time is still a man, is a slave.
By the way, quotes about love
About funny
Of all living beings, only man is characterized by laughter.
The serious is destroyed by laughter, laughter by the serious.
It is the funny habits of people that make life enjoyable and bind society together.
A person with a sense of humor is one who knows how to make a well-aimed joke and one who can endure ridicule.
You need to joke in order to do serious things.
A joke is a release of tension because it is relaxation.
A witty person is one who jokes with taste.
The habit of finding only the funny side in everything is the surest sign of a shallow soul, because the funny lies on the surface.
By the way, quotes with humor
About morality
A moral person does a lot for the sake of his friends and for the sake of his fatherland, even if he had to lose his life in the process.
Moral qualities are found in connection with intention.
Nature has given man a weapon - intellectual moral strength, but he can use this weapon in the opposite direction, therefore a person without moral principles turns out to be the most wicked and savage creature, base in his sexual and taste instincts.
It is more fitting for a morally good person to show his honesty.
He who moves forward in science, but lags behind in morality, goes backward rather than forward.
About courage
Courage is found in fears and daring proportionate to man.
Courage is courage in the face of fear, so when fear is moderated, courage increases.
He who meaningfully rushes into danger for the sake of good and is not afraid of it is courageous, and this is courage.
The one who fearlessly goes towards a beautiful death is called courageous.
No one can endure terrible things better than a courageous man.
To be brave means to consider everything that is scary far away and everything that inspires courage to be close.
About actions
The principles of actions are what they are done for.
You can commit a wrongdoing in different ways, but there is only one way to do the right thing...
In order to perform noble deeds, it is not necessary to reign over land and seas.
Praise and condemnation are received depending on whether the action was performed under duress or not.
From the habit of swearing, a tendency to commit bad deeds also develops.
About passions
The one who rules over the passions is not the one who completely abstains from them, but the one who uses them as one controls a ship or a horse, that is, directs them where it is necessary and useful.
When anger or any other similar kind of emotion takes possession of an individual, the latter's decision inevitably becomes unsuitable.
Anyone can get angry - it's easy; but to be angry with the one you need, and as much as you need, and when you need, and for the reason you need, and in the way you need - this is not given to everyone.
Anger is an animal-like passion in its disposition, capable of frequent repetition, cruel and unyielding in strength, serving as the cause of murder, an ally of misfortune, an accomplice of harm and dishonor.
About life
The destruction of one is the birth of another.
Living means doing things, not acquiring them.
What is a sense of life? Serve others and do good.
Nature does nothing without a purpose.
There are many things that happen not out of necessity, but by chance.
Life requires movement.
The feeling of life refers to things that in themselves give pleasure, because life is good by nature.
By the way, quotes about life
About power
You cannot lead well without learning to obey.
With each type of government system, the essence of the citizen changes.
Plurality of power is not good: let there be one ruler.
Democracy should be considered a system when the freeborn and the poor, constituting the majority, have supreme power in their hands.
Every citizen should, as far as possible, direct his aspirations towards being able to rule over his own state.
The property of a tyrant is to repel everyone whose heart is proud and free.
About art
The virtue of style is clarity.
An overly brilliant style makes both characters and thoughts invisible.
A good book is one in which the writer says what he should, does not say what he should not, and says what he should.
In a poetic work, the probable and impossible is preferable to the incredible, although possible.
Comedy intends to portray worse people, and tragedy - better people than existing ones.
By the way, quotes about art
About speech
The virtue of speech is to be clear and not low.
Clarity is the main virtue of speech.
Speech must comply with the laws of logic.
Rhetoric is the ability to find possible ways of persuasion regarding any given subject.
The most pleasant words for us are those that give us some knowledge.
By the way, quotes about speech
About women and men
Mothers love their children more because they are more confident that the children are theirs.
Women who indulge in drunkenness give birth to children who are similar in this respect to their mothers.
A man, in comparison with a woman, is better than her by nature, and a woman is worse than him, therefore he rules over her, and she obeys him.
By the way, quotes about women and quotes about men
Oh happiness
Man's happiness consists in the unhindered exercise of his dominant faculty. Happiness is contentment with oneself.
Happiness is on the side of the one who is satisfied.
Happiness, it seems, lies in leisure.
By the way, quotes about happiness
About justice
Justice is the greatest of virtues, more wonderful and brilliant than the evening or morning star.
Justice is not a part of virtue, but all of virtue, and its opposite - injustice - is not a part of depravity, but depravity in general.
If you say what is fair, the gods will love you; if you say what is unjust, people will love you.
About knowledge
Knowledge begins with wonder.
The ignorant is surprised that things are as they are, and such surprise is the beginning of knowledge; a wise man, on the contrary, would be surprised if things were different and not as he knows them.
He who observes a little easily makes a judgment.
About music
Music ennobles morals.
Music can have a certain effect on the ethical side of the soul; and since music has such properties, then, obviously, it should be included among the subjects of youth education.
When we perceive rhythm and melody with our ears, our mental mood changes.
About the mind
Intelligence consists not only in knowledge, but also in the ability to apply knowledge in practice.
Reason is one of the human abilities.
It is common for every person to make mistakes, but it is unusual for anyone but a fool to persist in a mistake.
About fear
Fear is defined as the expectation of evil.
Let there be fear - some kind of unpleasant sensation or embarrassment arising from the idea of an impending evil that can destroy us or cause us trouble: people are not afraid of all evils... but only those that can cause suffering, greatly upset or destroy...
About drunkenness
Intoxication is voluntary madness.
Much can happen between the cup of wine and the lips.
About Me
Plato is my friend but the truth is dearer.
May everything be for the better; but if anything happens, then Aristotle ordered it so.
About truth
The highest truth is that which is the cause of consequences, which in turn are true.
It is a duty to give up even what is dear and close for the sake of saving the truth.
About honor
Honor is the reward given for virtue...
For whom even honor is a trifle, for him everything else is insignificant.
About the sensible
The prudent person strives for the absence of suffering, and not for pleasure.
Anyone who is able to make reasonable decisions is reasonable in the general sense of the word.
About the act
Action is a living unity of theory and practice.
The beginning is more than half of everything.
About medicine
What we need most for our bodies also has the greatest impact on our health: mainly water and air.
Talented doctors attach utmost importance to an accurate knowledge of human anatomy.
About beauty
Anyone who asks why we enjoy being with beautiful people is blind.
There is beauty in a large body, but small ones may be graceful and proportionate, but not beautiful.
By the way, quotes about beauty
About sciences
Politics is the best of sciences.
Wisdom is the most exact of sciences.
By the way, quotes about science
About miscellaneous
Among the unknowns in the nature around us, the most unknown is time, because no one knows what time is and how to control it.
Everyone knows that death is inevitable, but since it is not close, no one thinks about it.
The goal of war is peace.
There has never been a single great mind without an admixture of madness.
The essence of wealth lies more in use than in possession.
Nothing exhausts and destroys a person more than prolonged physical inactivity.
Luck is luck in which the testing mind is not involved.
Praising people to their faces is a sign of flattery.
A crime only needs a pretext.
The owner's eye is the best way to fatten a horse.
If each tool, by command or by prediction, could perform the work assigned to it, just as the creations of Daedalus moved by themselves, or as the tripods of Hephaestus, at their own prompting, began sacred work, if in the same way the weaver's shuttles wove themselves, then neither master of assistants, nor master of slaves.
Aristotle was a talented systematizer of the scientific and philosophical knowledge accumulated at that time. True, he did not become famous for any outstanding deed, like the same Socrates. Well, yes, he was the teacher of Alexander the Great, but this is still not a feat of a philosopher...
Quotes about Aristotle
- Plato: Aristotle kicks me like a suckling foal kicks its mother. (about the break with Aristotle)
- Albertus Magnus: When there is no agreement between them [philosophy and Revelation], then as far as faith and morals are concerned, one must trust Augustine more than the philosophers. But if we were talking about medicine, I would believe more in Hippocrates and Galen; and if we are talking about physics, then I believe Aristotle - after all, he knew nature better than anyone.
- Thomas Aquinas: You don't understand anything. Truth is one. There cannot be two truths. And Aristotle teaches about nature correctly, without contradicting Christianity.
- G. Hegel: Aristotle was one of the richest and most thoughtful scientific geniuses who has ever appeared on the arena of history, a man whose equal has not been produced by any era.
- M. Heidegger: The more I practiced phenomenological vision and fruitfully interpreted the works of Aristotle in this vein, the more attached I became to him and other Greek thinkers. True, at that time I could not yet foresee what serious consequences this new discovery of Aristotle would lead to.
Next, you can move on to other collections of quotes:
- Socrates quotes
- Plato quotes
- Confucius quotes
- Goethe quotes
- Kant quotes
- Nietzsche quotes
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Aphorisms about art
- Music ennobles morals.
- Only music has the power to shape character... With the help of music you can teach yourself to develop the right feelings.
- Comedy intends to portray worse people, and tragedy - better people than existing ones.
- Art completes what nature cannot complete. The artist gives us the opportunity to understand the unrealized goals of nature.
- Art is the purification of passions.
- Experience is knowledge of the individual, and art is knowledge of the general.
