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Virtue Quotes by Aristotle

142 Virtue quotes by Aristotle

All Virtue quotes Aristotle’s page

Aristotle explains that happiness comes from doing virtuous actions, not from idle pastimes. He describes each virtue as a balanced middle point between two opposite vices. The philosopher also ties virtue to the soul’s disposition, capacity, or emotion, showing how purpose and character are built through proper practice.

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“The life of active virtue is essentially pleasant.”

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There must be in prudence also some master virtue.

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“A man without regrets cannot be cured.”

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Happiness is the reward of virtue.

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In justice is all virtues found in sum.

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Happiness comes from theperfect practice of virtue.

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“Virtue lies in moderation”

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Happiness is prosperity combined with virtue.

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Virtue is more clearly shown in the performance of fine actions than in the nonperformance of base ones.

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We have next to consider the formal definition of virtue.

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“The actions from which [virtue] was produced are also those in which it is exercised.”

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Happiness does not consist in pastimes and amusements but in virtuous activities.

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Courage is the mother of all virtues because without it, you cannot consistently perform the others.

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Happiness is an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue

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Definition of tragedy: A hero destroyed by the excess of his virtues

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Every virtue is a mean between two extremes, each of which is a vice.

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A state of the soul is either (1) an emotion, (2) a capacity, or (3) a disposition; virtue therefore must be one…

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“Hence while in respect of its substance and the definition that states what it really is in essence virtue is the observance…

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We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence. But they hesitate, waiting for the other fellow to make the…

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A state is an association of similar persons whose aim is the best life possible. What is best is happiness, and to…

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“Every skill and every inquiry, and similarly every action and rational choice, is thought to aim at some good; and so the…

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Excellence or virtue in a man will be the disposition which renders him a good man and also which will cause him…

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The vices respectively fall short of or exceed what is right in both passions and actions, while virtue both finds and chooses…

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What the statesman is most anxious to produce is a certain moral character in his fellow citizens, namely a disposition to virtue…

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It has been well said that 'he who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.' The two are not…

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Moral virtue is a mean . . . between two vices, one of excess and the other of defect; . . .…

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And inasmuch as the great-souled man deserves most, he must be the best of men; for the better a man is the…

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Greatness of Soul seems therefore to be as it were a crowning ornament of the virtues; it enhances their greatness, and it…

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Even if you must have regard to wealth, in order to secure leisure, yet it is surely a bad thing that the…

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Moral virtue is ... a mean between two vices, that of excess and that of defect, and ... it is no small…

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...the life which is best for men, both separately, as individuals, and in the mass, as states, is the life which has…

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Hence both women and children must be educated with an eye to the constitution, if indeed it makes any difference to the…

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So we must lay it down that the association which is a state exists not for the purpose of living together but…

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Nor was civil society founded merely to preserve the lives of its members; but that they might live well: for otherwise a…

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If we state the function of man to be a certain kind of life, and this to be an activity or actions…

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If a man of good natural disposition acquires Intelligence [as a whole], then he excels in conduct, and the disposition which previously…

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Some things the legislator must find ready to his hand in a state, others he must provide. And therefore we can only…

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Not every action or emotion however admits of the observance of a due mean. Indeed the very names of some directly imply…

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That education should be regulated by law and should be an affair of state is not to be denied, but what should…

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Of cases where a man is truthful both in speech and conduct when no considerations of honesty come in, from an habitual…

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More by Aristotle

The knowledge of the soul admittedly contributes greatly to the advance of truth in general, and, above all, to our understanding of Nature, for…

Young men have strong passions and tend to gratify them indiscriminately. Of the bodily desires, it is the sexual by which they are most…

The body is at its best between the ages of thirty and thirty-five; the mind is at its best about the age of forty-nine.

The ensouled is distinguished from the unsouled by its being alive. Now since being alive is spoken of in many ways, even if only…

Although it may be difficult in theory to know what is just and equal, the practical difficulty of inducing those to forbear who can,…

The true forms of government, therefore, are those in which the one, or the few, or the many, govern with a view to the…

All men by nature desire to know.

All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right, and not what is established.

Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Give a man a poisoned fish, you feed him for the rest of…

The man who confers a favour would rather not be repaid in the same coin.

The mother of revolution and crime is poverty

Obstinate people can be divided into the opinionated, the ignorant, and the boorish.

Happiness does not consist in pastimes and amusements but in virtuous activities.

To learn is a natural pleasure, not confined to philosophers, but common to all men.

Every virtue is a mean between two extremes, each of which is a vice.