Greek philosopher (384 B.C. - 322 B.C.)
Freedom is obedience to self-formulated rules.
ARISTOTLE
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Nicomachean Ethics
Nobility and worth are to be found only among the few, but their opposite among the many; for there is not one man of merit and high spirit in a hundred, while there are many destitute of both to be found everywhere.
ARISTOTLE
attributed, Day's Collacon
Our statements will be adequate if made with as much clearness as the matter allows.
ARISTOTLE
Nicomachean Ethics
There are, then, these three means of effecting persuasion. The man who is to be in command of them must, it is clear, be able (1) to reason logically, (2) to understand human character and goodness in their various forms, and (3) to understand the emotions--that is, to name them and describe them, to know their causes and the way in which they are excited.
ARISTOTLE
Rhetoric
Nature flies from the infinite, for the infinite is unending or imperfect, and Nature ever seeks to amend.
ARISTOTLE
On the Generation of Animals
For the doubt is, whether it is possible for a man really to be wronged with his own consent, or not possible, but the act must always be done to him against his will, just as the doing a wrong must always be intentional; and again, whether the being wronged is wholly this way or that, (as the doing wrong is entirely a voluntary act,) or one kind of it is voluntary and another kind involuntary. And similarly in the case of being justly dealt with: for all just dealing is voluntary, so that it is reasonable there should be set opposite to both cases, (i.e. both the being wrongly and the being fairly treated,) the being so willingly or unwillingly. But it would seem a strange thing, in the case of being justly dealt with likewise, if it is wholly with one's consent; for some persons are justly dealt with without their consent.
ARISTOTLE
Nicomachean Ethics
Happiness, whether consisting in pleasure or virtue, or both, is more often found with those who are highly cultivated in their minds and in their character, and have only a moderate share of external goods, than among those who possess external goods to a useless extent but are deficient in higher qualities.
ARISTOTLE
Politics
Comedy is, as we have said, an imitation of characters of a lower type--not, however, in the full sense of the word bad, the ludicrous being merely a subdivision of the ugly.
ARISTOTLE
Poetics
Concerning things which exist or will exist inevitably, or which cannot possibly exist or take place, no counsel can be given.
ARISTOTLE
Rhetoric
On a similar principle they consider that to know right and wrong is nothing clever, because what the laws speak about it cannot be hard to understand. But this is not justice, except incidentally: it is when actions are done or awards are made in a certain way that they become just.
ARISTOTLE
Nicomachean Ethics
The law is reason unaffected by desire.
ARISTOTLE
Politics
Young people are in a condition like permanent intoxication, because youth is sweet and they are growing.
ARISTOTLE
Nicomachean Ethics
Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered.
ARISTOTLE
Politics
Dramatic action, therefore, is not with a view to the representation of character: character comes in as subsidiary to the actions.
ARISTOTLE
Poetics
Now all orators effect their demonstrative proofs by allegation either of enthymems or examples, and, besides these, in no other way whatever.
ARISTOTLE
Rhetoric
Communities could not subsist without foresight to discern, as well as exertion to effectuate the measures requisite for their safety. Men capable of discerning those measures, are made for authority; and men merely capable of effectuating them by bodily labor, are made for obedience.
ARISTOTLE
Politics
Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.
ARISTOTLE
Nicomachean Ethics
Poetry demands a man with a special gift for it, or else one with a touch of madness in him.
ARISTOTLE
Poetics
All learning is derived from things previously known.
ARISTOTLE
The Nicomachean Ethics
But tangible differ from visible and sonorous impressions, in that the latter are perceived by the medium acting in some way upon us, while the former are perceived, not by, but together with, the medium, like a man who is struck through his shield--for it is not the shield which, having been struck, strikes him, but the shield and he are simultaneously struck together.
ARISTOTLE
On the Vital Principle