Principles Quotes by Aristotle

The first principle of all action is leisure.

— Aristotle

No science ever defends its first principles.

— Aristotle

“The beginning seems to be more than half of the whole.”

— Aristotle

... There must then be a principle of such a kind that its substance is activity.

— Aristotle

The heart is the perfection of the whole organism. Therefore the principles of the power of perception and the souls ability to…

— Aristotle

Demonstration is also something necessary, because a demonstration cannot go otherwise than it does, ... And the cause of this lies with…

— Aristotle

The only stable principle of government is equality according to proportion, and for every man to enjoy his own.

— Aristotle

[this element], the seat of the appetites and of desire in general, does in a sense participate in principle, as being amenable…

— Aristotle

Thus then a single harmony orders the composition of the whole...by the mingling of the most contrary principles.

— Aristotle

There also appears to be another element in the soul, which, though irrational, yet in a manner participates in rational principle.

— Aristotle

...The entire preoccupation of the physicist is with things that contain within themselves a principle of movement and rest.

— Aristotle

Those who believe that all virtue is to be found in their own party principles push matters to extremes; they do not…

— Aristotle

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

— Aristotle

The so-called Pythagoreans, who were the first to take up mathematics, not only advanced this subject, but saturated with it, they fancied…

— Aristotle

Men must be able to engage in business and go to war, but leisure and peace are better; they must do what…

— Aristotle

Laws, when good, should be supreme; and that the magistrate or magistrates should regulate those matters only on which the laws are…

— Aristotle

That which most contributes to the permanence of constitutions is the adaptation of education to the form of government, and yet in…

— Aristotle

So virtue is a purposive disposition, lying in a mean that is relative to us and determined by a rational principle, and…

— Aristotle

Happiness is a thing honored and perfect. This seems to be borne out by the fact that it is a first principle…

— Aristotle

The soul has two parts, one rational and the other irrational. Let us now similarly divide the rational part, and let it…

— Aristotle

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

— Aristotle

The laws are, and ought to be, relative to the constitution, and not the constitution to the laws. A constitution is the…

— Aristotle

For man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all;…

— Aristotle

[the virtues] cannot exist without Prudence. A proof of this is that everyone, even at the present day, in defining Virtue, after…

— Aristotle

In [the soul] one part naturally rules, and the other is subject, and the virtue of the ruler we maintain to be…

— Aristotle

Every man should be responsible to others, nor should anyone be allowed to do just as he pleases; for where absolute freedom…

— Aristotle

Take the case of just actions; just punishments and chastisements do indeed spring from a good principle, but they are good only…

— Aristotle

If what was said in the Ethics is true, that the happy life is the life according to virtue lived without impediment,…

— Aristotle

Again, the male is by nature superior, and the female inferior; and the one rules, and the other is ruled; this principle,…

— Aristotle

For we do not think that we know a thing until we are acquainted with its primary conditions or first principles, and…

— Aristotle

Conscientious and careful physicians allocate causes of disease to natural laws, while the ablest scientists go back to medicine for their first…

— Aristotle

...virtue is not merely a state in conformity with the right principle, but one that implies the right principle; and the right…

— Aristotle

The principle aim of gymnastics is the education of all youth and not simply that minority of people highly favored by nature.

— Aristotle

The things best to know are first principles and causes, but these things are perhaps the most difficult for men to grasp,…

— Aristotle

Governments which have a regard to the common interest are constituted in accordance with strict principles of justice, and are therefore true…

— Aristotle

It is clear, then, that wisdom is knowledge having to do with certain principles and causes. But now, since it is this…

— Aristotle

...in this way the structure of the universe- I mean, of the heavens and the earth and the whole world- was arranged…

— Aristotle

Nature herself, as has been often said, requires that we should be able, not only to work well, but to use leisure…

— Aristotle

Neither should we forget the mean, which at the present day is lost sight of in perverted forms of government; for many…

— Aristotle

It is this simplicity that makes the uneducated more effective than the educated when addressing popular audiences-makes them, as the poets tell…

— Aristotle