Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
In revolutions the occasions may be trifling but great interest are at stake.
The honors and rewards fall to those who show their good qualities in action.
To be always seeking after the useful does not become free and exalted souls.
Hippocrates is an excellent geometer but a complete fool in everyday affairs.
We should aim rather at leveling down our desires than leveling up our means.
Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.
Justice is that virtue of the soul which is distributive according to desert.
The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.
Where your talents and the needs of the world cross; there lies your vocation.
Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms.
If men are given food, but no chastisement nor any work, they become insolent.
A good style must have an air of novelty, at the same time concealing its art.
A democracy when put to the strain grows weak, and is supplanted by Oligarchy.
No one who desires to become good will become good unless he does good things.
To Thales the primary question was not what do we know, but how do we know it.
No notice is taken of a little evil, but when it increases it strikes the eye.
Patience is so like fortitude that she seems either her sister or her daughter.
That which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it
If things do not turn out as we wish, we should wish for them as they turn out.
All that one gains by falsehood is, not to be believed when he speaks the truth.
The democrats think that as they are equal they ought to be equal in all things.
Comedy aims at representing men as worse, Tragedy as better than in actual life.
There is nothing strange in the circle being the origin of any and every marvel.
We are the sum of our actions, and therefore our habits make all the difference.
Education and morals will be found almost the whole that goes to make a good man.
Ancient laws remain in force long after the people have the power to change them.
Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered.
Irrational passions would seem to be as much a part of human nature as is reason.
Happiness does not consist in pastimes and amusements but in virtuous activities.
The good citizen need not of necessity possess the virtue which makes a good man.
... There must then be a principle of such a kind that its substance is activity.
. . . the man is free, we say, who exists for his own sake and not for another's.
It is Homer who has chiefly taught other poets the art of telling lies skillfully.
To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man.
A tragedy is that moment where the hero comes face to face with his true identity.
The Eyes are the organs of temptation, and the Ears are the organs of instruction.
If the hammer and the shuttle could move themselves, slavery would be unnecessary.
Happiness involves engagement in activities that promote one's highest potentials.
Our problem is not that we aim too high and miss, but that we aim too low and hit.
The law does not expressly permit suicide, and what it does not permit it forbids.
In inventing a model we may assume what we wish, but should avoid impossibilities.
That body is heavier than another which, in an equal bulk, moves downward quicker.
Everything that depends on the action of nature is by nature as good as it can be.
It is the repeated performance of just and temperate actions that produces virtue.
Distance does not break off the friendship absolutely, but only the activity of it.
To appreciate the beauty of a snow flake, it is necessary to stand out in the cold.
Therefore, even the lover of myth is a philosopher; for myth is composed of wonder.
It is not the possessions but the desires of mankind which require to be equalized.
Being a father is the most rewarding thing a man whose career has plateaued can do.
Choice not chance determines your destiny [my family motto...credited to Aristotle]