--- title: "8 Characteristics Quotes By Aristotle" description: "8 Characteristics quotes by Aristotle. Plus more from Aristotle and more Characteristics sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/097/aristotle-78_association_and-it-is-characteristic-of-man-that-he_276131.png" --- > [And it is characteristic of man that he alone has any sense of good and evil, of just and unjust, and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/and-it-is-characteristic-of-man-that-he-alone-has-any-sense-of-good/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/097/aristotle-78_association_and-it-is-characteristic-of-man-that-he_276131.png) > [It is the characteristic of the magnanimous man to ask no favor but to be ready to do kindness to others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/it-is-the-characteristic-of-the-magnanimous-man-to-ask-no-favor-but/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4fb/aristotle-78_asks_it-is-the-characteristic-of-the-magnanim_764298.png) > [If what was said in the Ethics is true, that the happy life is the life according to virtue lived without impediment,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/if-what-was-said-in-the-ethics-is-true-that-the-happy-life-is-the/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/91e/aristotle-78_being-the-best_if-what-was-said-in-the-ethics-is-true-t_814995.png) > [Again, it is possible to fail in many ways (for evil belongs to the class of the unlimited and good to that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/again-it-is-possible-to-fail-in-many-ways-for-evil-belongs-to-the/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ac/aristotle-78_character_again-it-is-possible-to-fail-in-many-way_883821.jpg) > [The purpose of the present study is not as it is in other inquiries, the attainment of knowledge, we are not conducting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-purpose-of-the-present-study-is-not-as-it-is-in-other-inquiries/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/749/aristotle-78_action_the-purpose-of-the-present-study-is-not_2079213.png) > [Actions determine what kind of characteristics are developed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/actions-determine-what-kind-of-characteristics-are-developed/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/88c/aristotle-78_action_actions-determine-what-kind-of-character_2421517.png) > [Two characteristic marks have above all others been recognized as distinguishing that which has soul in it from that which has not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/two-characteristic-marks-have-above-all-others-been-recognized-as/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/46b/aristotle-78_characteristics_two-characteristic-marks-have-above-all_2490063.png) > [The trade of the petty usurer is hated with most reason: it makes a profit from currency itself, instead of making it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-trade-of-the-petty-usurer-is-hated-with-most-reason-it-makes-a/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c17/aristotle-78_avarice_the-trade-of-the-petty-usurer-is-hated-w_2749973.jpg) ## Other authors on Characteristics ## 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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-knowledge-of-the-soul-admittedly-contributes-greatly-to-the/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Young men have strong passions and tend to gratify them indiscriminately. Of the bodily desires, it is the sexual by which they are most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/young-men-have-strong-passions-and-tend-to-gratify-them/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [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.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-body-is-at-its-best-between-the-ages-of-thirty-and-thirty-five/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [The ensouled is distinguished from the unsouled by its being alive. Now since being alive is spoken of in many ways, even if only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-ensouled-is-distinguished-from-the-unsouled-by-its-being-alive/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Although it may be difficult in theory to know what is just and equal, the practical difficulty of inducing those to forbear who can,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/although-it-may-be-difficult-in-theory-to-know-what-is-just-and-equal/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [The true forms of government, therefore, are those in which the one, or the few, or the many, govern with a view to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-true-forms-of-government-therefore-are-those-in-which-the-one-or/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [All men by nature desire to know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/all-men-by-nature-desire-to-know/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right, and not what is established.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/all-persons-ought-to-endeavor-to-follow-what-is-right-and-not-what-is/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Give a man a poisoned fish, you feed him for the rest of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/give-a-man-a-fish-you-feed-him-for-a-day-give-a-man-a-poisoned-fish/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [The man who confers a favour would rather not be repaid in the same coin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-man-who-confers-a-favour-would-rather-not-be-repaid-in-the-same/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [The mother of revolution and crime is poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-mother-of-revolution-and-crime-is-poverty/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Obstinate people can be divided into the opinionated, the ignorant, and the boorish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/obstinate-people-can-be-divided-into-the-opinionated-the-ignorant-and/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Happiness does not consist in pastimes and amusements but in virtuous activities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/happiness-does-not-consist-in-pastimes-and-amusements-but-in-virtuous/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [To learn is a natural pleasure, not confined to philosophers, but common to all men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/to-learn-is-a-natural-pleasure-not-confined-to-philosophers-but/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Every virtue is a mean between two extremes, each of which is a vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/every-virtue-is-a-mean-between-two-extremes-each-of-which-is-a-vice/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/characteristics/aristotle/#itemlist", "name": "8 Characteristics Quotes By Aristotle", "numberOfItems": 8, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "And it is characteristic of man that he alone has any sense of good and evil, of just and unjust, and the like, and the association of living beings who have this sense makes family and a state.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Aristotle" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/and-it-is-characteristic-of-man-that-he-alone-has-any-sense-of-good/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/097/aristotle-78_association_and-it-is-characteristic-of-man-that-he_276131.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/097/aristotle-78_association_and-it-is-characteristic-of-man-that-he_276131.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/097/aristotle-78_association_and-it-is-characteristic-of-man-that-he_276131.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“And it is characteristic of man that he alone has any sense of good and evil, of just and unjust, and the…” — Aristotle", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is the characteristic of the magnanimous man to ask no favor but to be ready to do kindness to others.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Aristotle" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/it-is-the-characteristic-of-the-magnanimous-man-to-ask-no-favor-but/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4fb/aristotle-78_asks_it-is-the-characteristic-of-the-magnanim_764298.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4fb/aristotle-78_asks_it-is-the-characteristic-of-the-magnanim_764298.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4fb/aristotle-78_asks_it-is-the-characteristic-of-the-magnanim_764298.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is the characteristic of the magnanimous man to ask no favor but to be ready to do kindness to others.” — Aristotle", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If what was said in the Ethics is true, that the happy life is the life according to virtue lived without impediment, and that virtue is a mean, then the life which is in a mean, and in a mean attainable by every one, must be the best. And the same principles of virtue and vice are characteristic of cities and of constitutions; for the constitution is in a figure the life of the city.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Aristotle" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/if-what-was-said-in-the-ethics-is-true-that-the-happy-life-is-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/91e/aristotle-78_being-the-best_if-what-was-said-in-the-ethics-is-true-t_814995.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/91e/aristotle-78_being-the-best_if-what-was-said-in-the-ethics-is-true-t_814995.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/91e/aristotle-78_being-the-best_if-what-was-said-in-the-ethics-is-true-t_814995.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If what was said in the Ethics is true, that the happy life is the life according to virtue lived without…” — Aristotle", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Again, it is possible to fail in many ways (for evil belongs to the class of the unlimited and good to that of the limited), while to succeed is possible only in one way (for which reason also one is easy and the other difficult—to miss the mark easy, to hit it difficult); for these reasons also, then, excess and defect are characteristic of vice, and the mean of virtue; For men are good in but one way, but bad in many.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Aristotle" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/again-it-is-possible-to-fail-in-many-ways-for-evil-belongs-to-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ac/aristotle-78_character_again-it-is-possible-to-fail-in-many-way_883821.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ac/aristotle-78_character_again-it-is-possible-to-fail-in-many-way_883821.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ac/aristotle-78_character_again-it-is-possible-to-fail-in-many-way_883821.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Again, it is possible to fail in many ways (for evil belongs to the class of the unlimited and good to that…” — Aristotle", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The purpose of the present study is not as it is in other inquiries, the attainment of knowledge, we are not conducting this inquiry in order to know what virtue is, but in order to become good, else there would be no advantage in studying it. For that reason, it becomes necessary to examine the problem of our actions and to ask how they are to be performed. 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