Aristotle
384 BC–322 BC
Greek philosopher Aristotle, a pupil of Plato and the tutor of Alexander the Great, authored works on ethics, natural sciences, politics, and poetics that profoundly influenced western thought; empirical observation precedes theory, and the syllogism bases logic, the essential method of rational inquiry in his system, which led him to see and to criticize metaphysical excesses.
Empirical, scientific, or commonsensical methods of an Aristotelian, also Aristotelean, a person, tends to think. Deductive method, especially the theory of the syllogism, defines Aristotelian logic. The formal logic, based on that of Aristotle, deals with the relations between propositions in terms of their form instead of their content.
German religious philosopher Saint Albertus Magnus later sought to apply his methods to current scientific questions. Philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the most influential thinker of the medieval period, combined doctrine of Aristotle within a context of Christianity.
Aristotle numbers among the greatest of all time. Almost peerless, he shaped centuries from late antiquity through the Renaissance, and people even today continue to study him with keen, non-antiquarian interest. This prodigious researcher and writer left a great body, perhaps numbering as many as two hundred treatises, from which 31 survive. His extant writings span a wide range of disciplines from mind through aesthetics and rhetoric and into such primary fields as biology; he excelled at detailed plant and animal taxonomy. In all these topics, he provided illumination, met with resistance, sparked debate, and generally stimulated the sustained interest of an abiding readership.
Wide range and its remoteness in time defies easy encapsulation. The long history of interpretation and appropriation of texts and themes, spanning over two millennia within a variety of religious and secular traditions, rendered controversial even basic points of interpretation.
“Through discipline comes freedom.”
“He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled”
“Wicked men obey from fear;good men, from love.”
“That which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal.”
“Therefore the activity of God, which surpasses all others in blessedness, must be contemplative; and of human activities, therefore, that which is most akin to this must be most of the nature of happiness”
“Het geluk behoort toe aan de tevredenen”
“Democracy arose from men's thinking that if they are equal in any respect, they are equal absolutely.”
“Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.”
“Anger Is A Gift”
“Friends are an aid to the young, to guard them from error; to the elderly, to attend to their wants and to supplement their failing power of action; to those in the prime of life, to assist them to noble deeds. ”
“The best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.”
“The secret to humor is surprise.”
“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.”
“All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right, and not what is established.”
“Time crumbles things; everything grows old under the power of Time and is forgotten through the lapse of Time.”
“It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen.”
“The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law.”
“Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way... you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.”
“Melancholy men, of all others, are the most witty.”
“It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.”
“The least deviation from truth will be multiplied later. ”
“It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace.”
“If things do not turn out as we wish, we should wish for them as they turn out.”
“It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.”
“...happiness does not consist in amusement. In fact, it would be strange if our end were amusement, and if we were to labor and suffer hardships all our life long merely to amuse ourselves.... The happy life is regarded as a life in conformity with virtue. It is a life which involves effort and is not spent in amusement....”
“Without virtue, man is most unholy and savage, and worst in regard to sex and eating.”
“We become brave by doing brave acts.”
“Those who cannot bravely face danger arethe slaves of their attackers.”
“And of course, the brain is not responsible for any of the sensations at all. The correct view is that the seat and source of sensation is the region of the heart.”
“A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider to be God-fearing and pious.”
“Man is by nature a political animal.”
“The nobelest expenditure is that which is made in the Divine Service”
“Learning is an ornament in prosperity, a refuge in adversity, and a provision in old age.”
“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”
“For man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all; since armed injustice is the more dangerous, and he is equipped at birth with the arms of intelligence and with moral qualities which he may use for the worst ends. Wherefore, if he have not virtue, he is the most unholy and the most savage of animals, and the most full of lust and gluttony. But justice is the bond of men in states, and the administration of justice, which is the determination of what is just, is the principle of order in political society.”
“the actuality of thought is life”
“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.”
“The energy of the mind is the essence of life.”
“Men create gods after their own image, not only with regard to their form, but with regard to their mode of life.”
“The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think.”
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”
“For what is the best choice, for each individual is the highest it is possible for him to achieve.”
“It is simplicity that makes the uneducated more effective than the educated when addressing popular audiences.”
“We acquire a particular quality by acting in a particular way.”
“Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.”
“It's the fastest who gets paid, and it's the fastest who gets laid.”
“Since the branch of philosophy on which we are at present engaged differs from the others in not being a subject of merely intellectual interest — I mean we are not concerned to know what goodness essentially is, but how we are to become good men, for this alone gives the study its practical value — we must apply our minds to the solution of the problems of conduct. ”
“Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.”
“Der Anfang ist die Hälfte vom Ganzen.”
“Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”