Aristotle Says...

Who says education has improved in 2000 years? You couldn’t prove it by this man.

For the excellence of an achievement is not the same as that of a possession: the possession that we prize most is that which is most valuable, e.g. gold; but the achievement is the one that is great and splendid (because the contemplation of such a thing excites one's administration, and magnificence is an object of administration), and magnificence is an achievement is excellence on a grand scale. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

Just as at the Olympic Games it is not the best-looking or the strongest men present that are crowned with wreaths, but the competitors (because it is from them that the winners come), so it is those who act that rightly win the honors and rewards in life. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

To feel or act towards the right person to the right extent at the right time for the right reason in the right way — that is not easy, and it is not everyone that can do it. Hence to do these things well is a rare, laudable and fine achievement. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

Happiness is action; and the actions of just and restrained men represent the consummation of many fine things. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

In all their actions all men do in fact aim at what they think good. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is impossible for those who do not do good actions to do well, and there is no such thing as a man’s or a states good action without virtue and practical wisdom. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Every action must be due to one or other of seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reasoning, anger, or appetite. - Aristotle, Rhetoric . c.334-23 BC.

Anyone who by his nature and not simply by ill-luck has no state is either too bad or too good, either subhuman or superhuman--he is like the war-mad man condemned in Homer’s words as “having no family, no law, no home;” for he who is such by nature is mad on war; he is a non-cooperator like an isolated piece in a game of draughts. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

When anger is the spring of their action men are unsparing of themselves. As Heraclitus once said, “anger is a delightful enemy; he buys with his life.” - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

We ought to include anger as part of hatred, since in a way it leads to the same actions. But anger is often more active than hatred. Angry men go into the attack with greater intensity just because this feeling does not involve their reasoning powers, which hatred uses more.... Anger is accompanied by pain, which makes it difficult to exercise reason, whereas hostility is not painful. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Legions require constant supplies, and without the consent of the senate, neither corn, clothing, nor pay can be provided; so that the commander's plans come to nothing, if the senate chooses to be deliberately negligent and obstructive. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The commonwealth is theirs who hold the arms: the sword and sovereignty ever walk hand-in-hand together. - Aristotle.

Those who possess and can wield arms are in a position to decide whether the constitution is to continue or not. - Aristotle.

The farmers have no arms, the workers have neither land nor arms; this makes them virtually the servants of those who possess arms. In these circumstances the equal sharing of offices and honors becomes an impossibility. - Aristotle.

Those who are in sovereign control of arms are in a sovereign position to decide whether the constitution is to continue or not. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

For each man, that which is the very highest that he can attain is the thing most to be preferred. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The well-being of all men depends on two things: one is the right choice of target, of the end to which actions should tend, the lies in finding the actions that lead to that end. These two may just as easily conflict with each other as coincide. Sometimes for example, the aim is well-chosen, but in action men fail to attain it. At other times they successfully perform everything that conduces to the end, but the end itself was badly chosen. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The authority of the master and that of the statesman are different from one another, and it is not the case that all kinds of authority are, as some thinkers hold, identical. The authority of the statesman is exercised over men who are naturally free; that of the master over men who are slaves. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Whenever authority in the State is constituted on a basis of equality and similarly between citizens, they expect to take turns in exercising it. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Why should one rule unqualifiedly, and the other unqualifiedly obey? - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

To rule at all costs, not only justly but unjustly, is unlawful, and merely to have the upper hand is not necessarily to have a just title to it. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334 23 BC.

Some underestimate the dangers of frontier quarrels, others regard them too cautiously, even sacrificing honour in order to avoid them. Hence in some countries it is the law that when war against a neighbor is under consideration, those who live near the border should be excluded from the discussion as being too personally involved to be able to give advice honorably. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The man, then, who faces and who fears the right things and from the right motive, in the right way at the right time, and who feels confidence under the corresponding conditions, is brave. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

Courage combined with physical power makes men bold, and for this double reason they are confident of easy success before they make their attack. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Neither among animals nor among foreign races do we find courage to be a characteristic of the most fierce, but rather of the gentler and lion-like dispositions.... One cannot imagine a wolf or any other wild animal engaging in a struggle against noble danger; but that is what a good man will do. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The way to make money is to get, if you can, a monopoly for yourself. Hence we find states also employing this method when they are short of money: they secure for themselves a monopoly. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Many states are in greater need of business and the income it brings than a household is. Hence we find that some of those who direct the affairs of a state actually make this their sole concern. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

For one of the well-nigh essential activities of all states is the buying and selling of goods to meet their mutual basic needs; this is the quickest way to self-sufficiency, which seems to be what moves men to combine under a single constitution. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

People must import the things which they do not themselves produce, and export those of which they have a surplus. For a state’s trading must be in its own interest and not in others’. Some throw their state open as a market for all comers for the sake of the revenue they bring.... - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The truly good and wise man bears all his fortunes with dignity, and always takes the most honorable course that circumstances permit. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334 23 B.C.

Acts, to be sure, are called just and temperate when they are such as a just or temperate man would do; but what makes the agent just or temperate is not merely the fact that he does such things, but the fact that he does them in the way that just and temperate men do. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

The man who shuns and fears everything and stands up to nothing becomes a coward; the man who is afraid of nothing at all, but marches up to every danger, becomes foolhardy. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

It is the way that we behave in our dealings with other people that makes us just or unjust, and the way that we behave in the face of danger, accustoming ourselves to be timid or confident, that makes us brave or cowardly.... So it is a matter of no little importance what sort of habits we form from the earliest age — it makes a vast difference, or rather all the difference in the world. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

Fierceness is not a mark of natural greatness of mind except towards wrongdoers. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The sound man is the sort of man for whom things absolutely good are good, on account of his own virtue; and clearly his utilization of them must be sound and noble absolutely. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Men become sound and good because of three things. These are nature, habit and reason. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

No one would call blessed a man who is entirely without courage or self-control or practical wisdom or a sense of justice, who is scared of flies buzzing past, who will stop at nothing to gratify his desire for eating or drinking, who will ruin his closest friends for a paltry profit, and whose mind also is as witless and deluded as a child’s or a lunatic’s. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

A citizen is in general one who has a share in ruling and in being ruled; but he will not be identical in every kind of constitution. So far as the best constitution is concerned, he is a man who is able and who chooses to rule and to be ruled with a view to a life that is in accordance with virtue. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

So then: we say a citizen is a member of an association, just as a sailor is; and each member of the crew has his different function and a name to fit it--rower, helmsman, look-out, and the rest. Clearly the most exact descriptions of each individual will be a special description of his virtue; but equally there will also be a general description that will fit them all, because there is a task in which they all play a part--the safe conduct of the voyage; for each member of the crew aims at securing that. Similarly the task of all the citizens, however different they may be, is the stability of the association, that is, the constitution. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The excellence of the citizen must be an excellence relative to the constitution. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

A state is a compound made up of citizens: and this compels us to consider who should properly be called a citizen and what a citizen really is. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Citizenship ought to be reserved for those who carry arms. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

When there is no middle-class, and the poor greatly exceed in number, troubles arise, and the state soon comes to an end. - Aristotle.

Whenever a majority of any sort, irrespective of wealth or poverty, divides among it's members the possessions of a minority, that majority is obviously ruining the state.... - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

If the work done and the benefit accrued are equal, well and good; but if not, there will inevitably be ill-feeling between those who get good income without doing much work and those who work harder but get no corresponding extra benefit. To live together and share in any human concern is hard enough to achieve at the best of times, and such a state of affairs makes it doubly hard. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The best partnership in a state is the one that operates through the middle people, and also that those states in which the middle element is large, and stronger if possible than the other two together, or at any rate stronger than either of them alone, have every chance of having a well-run constitution. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Whenever the mass of the people has sovereign power over the laws: they make one state into two by their attacks on the rich. Yet they ought, for the sake of stability, to behave in just the opposite way, and always appear to be speaking on behalf of the rich. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

That one should command and another obey is both necessary and expedient. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Commanding and being commanded run right through all personnel. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

All that is conquered in war is termed the property of the conquerors. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Of all those who make attacks on a tyrants life, the most to be watched and feared are those who reckon nothing of their own life provided they can take his. Therefore he should be wary of such men when they think that they are ill-used (themselves or the objects of their care). - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

When the constitution of a state is constructed on the principle that it's members are equals and peers, the citizens think it proper that they should hold office by turns. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

[A] constitution should remain for long in a state of equilibrium like a well-trimmed boat.... - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Each constitution has a vice engendered in it and inseparable from it. In kingship it is despotism, in aristocracy oligarchy, and in democracy the savage rule of violence; and it is impossible, as I said above, that each of these should not in course of time change into this vicious form. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is an indication that a constitution is well arranged when the people are content to abide by the constitutional system, and no faction worth mentioning has appeared, and no tyrant. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

In framing a constitution it is essential to have regard to the acquiring of strength for war.... The same point applies to property, for it is essential that there should be resources sufficient not merely for the internal needs of the state but also to meet external dangers. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

If a constitution is to have a good prospect of stability, it must be such that all sections of the state accept it and want it to go on in the same way as before. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is dear that the main criterion of the continued identity of a state ought to be its constitution. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Where laws do not rule, there is no constitution. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is a no less difficult task to put a constitution back on its feet than to create one from the start, just as re-learning a lesson is no less hard than learning it in the first place. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The better mixed a constitution is, the longer it will last. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

If, for example, people abandon some small feature of their constitution, next time they will with an easier mind tamper with some other and slightly more important feature, until in the end they tamper with the whole structure. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Since men introduce innovations for reasons connected with their private lives too, an authority ought to be set up to exercise supervision over those whose activities are not in keeping with the interests of the constitution. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334 23 BC.

Many constitutions have come about because although everyone agrees on justice, i.e. proportionate equality, they go wrong in achieving it. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Constitutions are themselves destroyed by... legislation carried to excess. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Constitutions enjoy stability, not only when any possible destroyers are at a distance, but sometimes just because they are close by; for through fear of them men keep a firm hold on their own constitution. So it becomes the duty of those who have the interests of the constitution at heart to create terrors so that all may be on the lookout and, like sentries at night, not allow their watch on the constitution to relax; the distant fear must be brought home. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

In constitutions that are well blended it is essential to take many precautions, and certainly against anything being done contrary to the laws; and it is essential in particular to guard against the insignificant breech. Illegality creeps in unobserved; it is like small items of expenditure which, when oft repeated make away with a man’s possessions. The spending goes unnoticed because the money is not spent all at once, and this is just what leads the mind astray. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

As to method, violence and trickery are both used [to change constitutions], violence sometimes immediately, at the beginning, but sometimes by way of subsequent compulsion. The use of trickery also is dual. In the one case they are successful in their deceit, and their change of the constitution is at first readily accepted, but subsequently they use force to keep control of it in spite of opposition. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The task confronting the lawgiver, and all who seek to set up a constitution... is not only, or even mainly, to establish it, but rather to ensure that it is preserved intact (any constitution can be made to last for a day or two). - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

For just as our bodies, if they are in healthy condition, or boats if they are in proper trim for their crews to sail them, can tolerate errors without being destroyed by them (whereas bodies in a sickly condition and boats with loose timbers and incompetent crews are seriously affected by even minor mistakes), so it is with constitutions: the worst of them need most watching. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Obviously the best constitution must be one which is so ordered that any person whatsoever may prosper best and live blessedly. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The many are less easily corrupted. As a larger amount of water is less easily polluted, so the multitude is less easily corrupted than the few. The judgement of one man is bound to be corrupted if he is in a bad temper or has very strong feelings about something. But in the other case it would take a lot of doing to arrange for all simultaneously to lose their temper and go wrong. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

When those in office ill-treat others and get larger shares for themselves, men form factions both against each other and against the constitution to which they owe their power to act; and these greater shares are won sometimes at the expense of individuals, sometimes at the expense of the common interest. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Courts of law differ in three definitive respects: from whom the members are drawn, the matter about which they have jurisdiction, the manner of appointment. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The number of public cases that happen ought always to be reduced to a minimum, ill-considered litigation being restrained by high penalties. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Present-day popular leaders, in their endeavor to win the favour of their peoples, make use of the law courts for frequent confiscation. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334 23 BC.

To secure the necessities of life is not the only purpose for which men turn criminal. They also wish to enjoy things and not go on desiring them; and if their desire goes beyond mere necessities, they will seek a remedy in crime. Nor is that the only motive; even men who feel no such desires wish to enjoy pleasures that bring no pain. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is no good having trials on matters of justice if they are to have no effect. If it is impossible for men to live in a society in which there are no trials, it is also impossible where the verdicts are not carried out. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The magnitude of a crime is proportionate to the magnitude of the injustice which prompts it. Hence the smallest of crimes may actually be the greatest. - Aristotle, Rhetoric . c.334-23 BC.

Since in every case a man judges rightly what he understands, and of this only is a good critic, it follows that while in a special field the good critic is a specialist, the good critic in general is the man with a general education. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

It very often happens that a considerable change in a country’s customs takes place imperceptibly, each little change slipping by unnoticed. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

In war and peace alike there must be men charged with superintending the protection of walls and gates, and with inspecting and marshalling the citizens. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

To facilitate resistance to an enemy and ensure survival, the population needs to be in a position to be readily defended both by sea and by land, and even if they cannot strike a blow against invaders on both elements, it will be easier to strike on one if they have access to both. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The tyrant springs from the people, from the populace, and directs his efforts against the notables, to the end that the people may not be wronged by them. This is clear from the record; for it is fairly generally true to say that tyrants have mostly begun as demagogues, being trusted because they abused the notables. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

There are two kinds of demagogy, one which functions within the ranks of the few themselves (for a demagogue can arouse even when there are very few indeed), the other when members of an oligarchy act as demagogues to the common crowd. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

In democracies changes are mainly due to the wanton licence of demagogues. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Justice therefore demands that no one should do more ruling than being ruled, but that all should have their turn. So we are back again with law, for organization is law. It follows therefor that it is preferable that law should rule rather than any single one of the citizens. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

A democracy exists whenever those who are free and are not well-off, being in the majority, are in sovereign control of government. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Tyranny often emerges from an over-enthusiastic democracy or from an oligarchy. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Democracy, for example, arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Both the lawgiver and the statesman must know what kinds of democratic measures preserve and what kinds undermine democracy. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

In democracies the most potent cause of revolution is the unprincipled character of their popular leaders. Sometimes they bring malicious prosecutions against the owners of possessions one by one, and so cause them to join forces: for common fear make the bitterest foes cooperate. At other times they openly egg on the multitude against them. There are many instances of the kind of thing I mean. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

A basic principle of the democratic constitution is liberty. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

So much for the right way to organize a democracy. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

An enemy will not even attempt an attack in the first place on those who are well prepared to meet it. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Regard every provision made for war as admirable, not as a supreme end but only as serving the needs of that end. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Where good discipline prevails there also will good order prevail, and good fortune rarely fails to follow in their train. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Most people prefer to live undisciplined lives, for they find that more enjoyable than restraint. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Great is the good fortune of a state in which the citizens have a moderate and sufficient property. - Aristotle.

So the result must be worthy of the expense, and the expense worthy of the result, or even in excess of it. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

An association for exchange is formed not from two doctors but from a doctor and a farmer, and in general from parties that are different and not equal; but these must be equated. Hence all products that are exchanged must be in some way comparable. It is this that has led to the introduction of money, which serves as a sort of mean, since it is a measure of everything, and so a measure of the excess and deficiency of value, informing us, for example, how many shoes are equivalent to a house or so much food. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

A state is a plurality, which must depend on education to bring about its common unity. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Socrates says that, thanks to education, there will be no need for a large number of regulations such as those governing the wardship of the city and the market, and the like. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The education and morals that make a man sound, and those that will make him fit to play the part of a statesman or of a king, are also more or less identical. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

In order to secure the good life, education and virtue would have the most just claim of all. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It may well be there are people who are incapable of being educated and becoming sound men. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is clear then that we are not to educate the young with a view to their amusement. Learning brings pain, and while children are learning they are not playing. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Since it is obvious that education by habit-forming must precede education by reasoned instruction, and that education of the body must precede that of intellect, it is clear that we must subject our children to gymnastics and to physical training; the former produces a certain condition of the body, the latter its actions. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

With regard to elections of officers too, this idea of electing from the elected is a dangerous one. For if a number of persons, not necessarily a large number, are resolved to stand firmly by each other, the elections will always go according to their wishes. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

People who lay out sums of money in order to secure office get into the habit of looking, not unreasonably, for some return. Even the poor but reasonable man will want to profit, so it could hardly be expected that the not-so-honest, who has already put his hand in his pocket, should not want his profit too. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

And what is the difference between women ruling and rulers ruled by women? The result is the same. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is an error when men unequal in one respect, e.g. money, suppose themselves unequal in all, just as it is in error when men equal in one respect, e.g. in being free, suppose themselves equal in every respect. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

There are two kinds of equality, the one being numerical, the other of value. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Inequality is everywhere at the bottom of faction, for in general, faction arises from men’s striving for what is equal. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

However difficult it may be to find out the truth about equality and justice, yet it is easier than to get man’s agreement when you are trying to persuade them to forgo some greater share that lies within their grasp. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Theoretical speculation is free, but practical experience is tied fast to circumstances and needs. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

In a way it is virtue, when it acquires resources, that is best able actually to use force; and in the fact that anything which conquers does so because it excels in some good. It seems therefore that force is not virtue, and that the only dispute is about what is just. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Obviously, a state which becomes progressively more and more a unity will cease to be a state at all. Plurality of numbers is natural in a state; and the further it moves away from plurality towards unity, the less a state it becomes and the more a household, and the household in turn an individual. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334 23 BC.

Experience has shown that it is difficult, if not impossible, for a large state to be run by good laws; at any rate, we know of no state with a reputation for a well-run constitution that does not restrict it's number. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

If revenues are available, one should not do what popular leaders today do--make a free distribution of the surplus (When people get it, they want the same again: this sort of assistance to the poor is like the proverbial jug with a hole in it). For the duty of the true democrat is to see that the population is not destitute; for destitution is the cause of a corrupt democracy. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

A good supply of money, too, is required both for military and for internal needs. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Good laws, if they are not obeyed, do not constitute good government. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Every state can be measured either qualitatively--I mean by such qualities as freedom, wealth, education, and good birth--or quantitatively, that is by numerical superiority. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is not fortune’s business to make a state sound; that is a task for knowledge and deliberate choice. On the other hand, a state’s being sound requires the citizens who share in the constitution to be sound. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The state consists not merely of a plurality of men, but of different kinds of men; you cannot make a state out of men who are alike. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Whereas without free population and wealth there cannot be a state at all, without justice and virtue it cannot be managed well. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The principal of an aristocracy is virtue, as wealth is of an oligarchy, and freedom of a democracy. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

While the state came about as a means of securing itself, it continues in being to secure the good life. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The state is an association intended to enable its members, in their households and kingships, to live well ; its purpose is a perfect and self-sufficient life. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

A state is an association of similar persons whose aim is the best life possible. What is best is happiness, and to be happy is an active exercise of virtue and a complete enjoyment of it. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The end of democracy is freedom; of aristocracy the maintenance of education and national institutions; of tyranny, the protection of the tyrant. - Rhetoric.

Every household is part of a state; and the virtue of the part ought to be examined in relation to the virtue of the whole. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The depravity of mankind is an insatiable thing. At first they are content with a dole of a mere two obols, then, when that is traditional, they go on asking for more and their demands become unlimited. For there is no natural limit to wants and most people spend their lives trying to satisfy them. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

And yet some men are hardly any better than wild animals. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Most people are avaricious rather than open-handed. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334 23 BC.

We can in our speculations postulate any ideal conditions we like, but they should at least be within the limits of possibility. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Injustice armed is hardest to deal with; and though man is born with weapons which he can use in the service of practical wisdom and virtue, it is all too easy for him to use them for the opposite purposes. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The object of the judge is to be a sort of personified justice. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

What the judge does is to restore equality. It is as if a line were divided into two unequal parts; the judge takes away that by which the greater segment exceeds the half of the line, and adds it to the lesser segment. When the whole has been divided into halves, then each is said to have his own — when they have received equal shares. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

That judges of important causes should hold office for life is not a good thing, for the mind grows old as well as the body. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Nothing forces a jury man to be false to his oath by giving a simple verdict for against, provided that the indictment is written in simple terms, and he gives his decision justly. For he who acquits does not say that nothing at all is due, but just that it is not twenty minae [a certain amount]. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Anyone who does not delight in fine actions is not even a good man; for nobody would say that a man is just unless he enjoys acting justly. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

Although justice cannot be equated with simple reciprocity, proportional reciprocation is the basis of all fair exchange. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

If what is unjust is unequal, what is just is equal; as is universally accepted even without the support of argument. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The virtue of justice is a feature of a state; for justice is the arrangement of the political association and a sense of justice decides what is just. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is thought that justice is equality; and so it is, but not for all persons, only for those that are equal. Inequality also is thought to be just; and so it is, but not for all, only for the unequal. We make bad mistakes if we neglect this “for whom” when we are deciding what is just. The reason is that we are making judgements about ourselves, and people are generally bad judges where their own interests are involved. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is impossible [for people] to give true judgement when their own interests and their own feelings are involved. So it is clear that the search for what is just is a search for the mean; for the law is the means. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is always the weaker who go in search of justice and equality; the strong reck nothing of them, - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Law contains no element of passion; but such an element must always be present in the human mind. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Whereas the law is passionless, passion must ever sway the heart of man. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The law has no power to secure obedience save the power of habit, and that takes a long time to become effective. Hence easy change from established laws to new laws means weakening the power of the law. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

A man will receive less benefit from changing the law than damage from becoming accustomed to disobey authority. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Customary laws influence us more crucially, and in more crucial ways, than written laws. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

All who are anxious to ensure government under good laws make it their business to have an eye to the virtue and vice of the citizens. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Every human soul must have feelings, whereas a law has none; but in compensation, one might say, a man will give sounder counsel than law in individual cases. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

All law is universal, but about some things it is not possible to make a universal statement which shall be correct. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

Legislators make their citizens good by habituation; this is the intention of every legislator, and those who do not carry it out fail of their object. This is what makes the difference between a good constitution and a bad one. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

The habit of lightly changing the laws is an evil... for the law has no power to command obedience except that of habit, which can only be given by time, so that a readiness to change from old to new laws enfeebles the power of the law. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is the task of a sound legislator to survey the state, the clan, and every association and to see how they can be brought to share in the good life and in whatever degree of happiness is possible for them. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Most prodigal people also take from the wrong sources, and on this account they are illiberal; they become acquisitive because they want to spend money and cannot do so readily, since their resources quickly run out; so they are forced to get a supply from [elsewhere]. What is more, since they care nothing for honorable conduct, they take money irresponsibly from any source; because they are eager to give, and it makes no difference to them how or from where they get it. For this very reason their gifts are not liberal either, because they are not fine, nor given from a fine motive, nor in the right degree. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

There is a very great pleasure in helping and doing favors to friends and strangers and associates.... The abolition of private property will mean that no man will be seen to be liberal and no man will ever do any act of liberality; for it is in the use of articles of property that liberality is practised. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is impossible for the whole to be happy, unless the majority, if not actually all, or at any rate some, parts possess happiness. For happiness is a very different thing from evenness: two odd numbers added together make an even number, but two unhappy sections cannot add up to a happy state. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is possible that the many, no one of whom taken singly is a sound man, may yet, taken all together, be better than the few, not individually but collectively, in the same way that a feast to which all contribute is better than one supplied at one man's expense. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The many may urge their claims against the few: taken together and compared with the few they are stronger, richer, and better. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The real difference between man and other animals is that humans alone have perception of good and evil, just and unjust, etc. It is the sharing of a common view in these matters that makes a household and a state. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Man is an animal impelled by his nature to live in a Polis. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

An individual ruler, if he has been well educated by law, gives good decisions; but he has only one pair of eyes and ears, one pair of feet and hands and it would be a paradox if he had better vision in judgement and action than many men with many pairs. Monarchical rulers, as we see even in our own times, appoint large numbers of men to be their eyes and ears, hands and feet; for such people as are friendly to themselves and to their rule, they make shares in it. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334 23 BC.

If anyone should hold that it is best for states to be ruled by kings, he will have to consider a question relating to the kings children, are his offspring also to be kings? Considering what kind of persons some of these have turned out to be, we would have to say that hereditary succession is harmful. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The fewer the things over which the authority of the king extends, the longer will the kingdom endure. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

When the same population continues to dwell in the same territory, must we say that the state remains the same so long as there is continuity of race among that population, even though one generation of people dies and another is born--just as a river or spring is commonly said to be the same, although different water passes into and out of it all the time? - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The state retains its identity as long as the stock of its inhabitants continues to be the same. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Then there is the matter of naval forces. Clearly it is excellent that there should be a certain quantity of this available, for it is important that by sea as well as by land a state should be formidable and able to render aid, not only internally but to certain of its neighbors. The number and size of the naval force will have to be decided in the light of the way of living of the state concerned. If it is to play an active role as a leading state, it will need naval as well as land forces large enough for such activities. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Oligarchy arose from the assumption that those who are unequal in some respect are completely unequal: being unequal in wealth they assume themselves to be unequal absolutely. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

An oligarchy which is of one mind with itself is not easily destroyed from within. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Again it is the people who bestow office on the deserving, the nobelest reward of virtue in a state; the people have the power of approving or rejecting laws, and what is most important of all, they deliberate on the question of war and peace. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is the people alone which has the right to confer honors and inflict punishment, the only bonds by which kingdoms and in a word human society in general are held together. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It may well be regarded as an absurdity that a single man should do better in seeing with two eyes, judging with two ears, or acting with two hands and feet, than many could do with many. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

There is this to be said for the many. Each of them by himself may not be of good quality; but when they all come together it is possible that they may surpass--collectively and as a body, although not individually--the quality of the few best. Feasts to which many contribute may excel those provided at one man's expense. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Powerful men are want to make up bands of their friends and from among the people, and to cause suspension of all government and form factions and fight each other. And that, surely, means nothing less than that for the time being such a state is a state no longer. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The members of a political association aim by their very nature at being equal and differing in nothing. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

A young man is not a fit person to attend lectures on political science, because he is not versed in the practical business of life from which politics draws its premisses and subject-matter. Besides, he tends to follow his feelings, with the result that he will make no headway and derive no benefit from his course, since the object of it is not knowledge but action. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

If anyone wants to make a serious study of ethics, or of political science, he must have been well trained in his habits. For the starting-point is the fact ; and if this is sufficiently clear there will be no need to ascertain the reason why. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

It is all wrong that a person who is going to be deemed worthy of the office should himself solicit it. Whether he wants to or not, the man who should hold office is the man who is fit for it.... For no one who is not ambitious would ask to hold office. Yet the truth is that men's ambition and their desire to make money are among the most frequent causes of deliberate acts of injustice. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The choice of officials and the scrutinizing of their work are very important matters indeed. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The doctor does not do anything for friendship's sake that is against his rational judgement: he cures his patient and takes his fee; but people in offices of state usually do all manner of things to show favour or disfavor. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Those who hold office are fond of money and makers of money. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

There are three essentials for the holders of the sovereign offices: goodwill towards the established constitution, tremendous capability for the work involved in the office, and in each constitution the kind of virtue and notions of justice that are calculated to suit the particular constitution in question. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is owing to a lack of vigilance that those who are not friendly to the constitution are sometimes allowed to get into supreme officers. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Most people seem to think that mastery is statesmanship, and they have no compunction about inflicting upon others what in their own community they regard as neither just nor beneficial if applied to themselves. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The good life is the chief end, both for the community as a whole and for each of us individually. But men also come together, and form and maintain political associations, merely for the sake of life. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

To leave the number of births unrestricted, as is done in most states, inevitably causes poverty among the citizens, and poverty produces faction and crime. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

When there are many who have no property and no honors they inevitably constitute a huge hostile element in the state. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

When power is added to desire men always act. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Property is part of a household, and the acquisition of property part of household-management; for neither life itself nor the good life is possible without a certain minimum supply of the necessities. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

If many are born and the land distributed accordingly, man must inevitably become poor. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

While property should up to a point be held in common, the general principle should be that of private ownership. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is not enough for a legislator to equalize possessions; he must aim at fixing an amount midway between extremes. But even if one were to fix a moderate amount for all, that would still be no use: for it is more necessary to equalize appetites than possessions. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The greater the member of owners, the less respect for common property. People are much more careful of their personal possessions than of those owned communally; They exercise care over common property only in so far as they are personally affected. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

We find more disputes arising between those who own and share property in common than we do among separate holders of possessions. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

These are the only desirable dispositions that bear on the use of possessions: a man cannot use his possessions gently or bravely, but he can use them moderately and liberally. These then must be the dispositions that affect one's use of possessions. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

There is no point in equalizing property, if we do nothing to regulate the number of citizens, but allow births to go on unhindered. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

An opinion is praised for being in accordance with the truth. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

So, while in one sense of the word it may be an admirable state of affairs where "all" say the same thing, it is nevertheless impossible; whereas in the other sense it is not conducive to a feeling of solidarity. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Provided the mass of the people is not too slave-like, each individual will indeed be a worse judge than the experts, but collectively they will be better, or at any rate no worse. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

In the long run mistaken good inevitably gives rise to unmistakable. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

To be ill-treated makes men follow their passions rather than their reason. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Reason causes men to do many things contrary to habit and to nature, whenever they are convinced that this is the better course. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Revolutions in democracies are generally caused by the intemperance of demagogues, who either in their private capacity lay information against rich men until they compel them to combine (for a common danger unites even the bitterest enemies), or coming forward in public, stir up the people against them. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Injustice (particularly in the form of ill-treatment), and contempt and fear, often cause those who are ruled to rebel against monarchies; and loss of private possessions is also sometimes a cause. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Claims to political rights must be based on the ground of contribution to the elements which constitute the being of the state. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The man who thinks that he is worthy of great things although he is not worthy of them is conceited: but not everybody is conceited who has a high opinion of his own worth. On the other hand the man who has too low an opinion is pusillanimous: and it makes no difference whether his worth is great or moderate or little, if his opinion of it is too low. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

One has to admit that there are some who are slaves everywhere, others who are slaves nowhere. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is clear that there is a difference between the rule of a master over a slave and the rule of a statesman. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Any human being that by nature belongs not to himself but to another is by nature a slave; and a human being belongs to another whenever, in spit of being a man, he is a piece of property, i.e. a tool having a separate existence and meant for action. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Even if the good of the society coincides with that of the individual, it is clearly a greater and more perfect thing to achieve and preserve that of a community; for while it is desirable to secure what is good in the case of an individual, to do so in the case of a people or a state is something finer and more sublime. - Aristotle, Ethics. c.334-23 B.C.

It is quite normal for the same persons to be found bearing arms and tilling the soil. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

A plentiful supply of sailors is sure to exist wherever the outlying dwellers and agricultural laborers are numerous. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is also in the interest of a tyrant to keep his subjects poor, so that they may not be able to afford the cost of protecting themselves by arms and be so occupied with their daily tasks that they have no time for rebellion.... Subjects are also kept poor by payment of taxes. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Every effort therefore must be made to perpetuate prosperity. And since this is to the advantage of the rich as well as the poor, all that accrues from the revenues should be collected into a single fund and distributed in block grants to those in need, if possible in lump sums large enough for the acquisition of a small piece of land, but if not, enough to start a business, or work in agriculture. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is a practice common to democracy, oligarchy, monarchy and every constitution not to augment the power of any one man out of proportion, but to try to bestow on him either minor honours tenable for long periods or major ones tenable only for a short time; for men become corrupt, and not everyone can master the intoxication of success. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Even the Spartans themselves, as we know from experience, were superior to others only so long as they were the only people which assiduously practised the rigors of discipline; and nowdays they are beaten both in athletic contests and in actual war. Their previous superiority was not due to the particular training which they gave their youth; it was simply and solely due to their having some sort of discipline when their antagonists had none at all.... The Spartan training has now to face rivals. Formerly it had none. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The purpose of an alliance is military assistance, and its usefulness depends on the amount of that assistance, not on any differentiation in kind; the greater the weight, the greater the pull. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

As for major crimes, men commit them when their aims are extravagant, not just to provide themselves with necessities. Who ever heard of a man making himself a dictator in order to keep warm? For this reason there is more honour in slaying a tyrant than a thief. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

A king's bodyguard is composed of citizens carrying arms, a tyrant's of foreigners. And the king rules over willing subjects according to law, the tyrant over unwilling subjects; so that whereas the one draws his bodyguard from among his citizens, the other uses it against them. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Any sole ruler, who is not required to an account of himself, and who rules over subjects all equal or superior to himself to suit his own interests and not theirs, can only be exercising a tyranny.... For no one willingly submits to such rule if he is a free man. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The two chief reasons for attacks on a tyranny are hatred and contempt. Hatred of tyrants is always present, but in many cases their fall comes from their being despised. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Here belong all the old hints for the preservation (so far as possible) of tyranny: (i) Lop off the eminent and get rid of men of independent spirit; (ii) Don't allow people getting together in messes or clubs, or education or anything of that kind; these are the breeding grounds of independence and confidence, two things which a tyrant must guard against; (iii) Do not allow schools or other gatherings where men pursue learning together, and do everything to ensure that people do not get to know each other well, for such knowledge increases mutual confidence... (v) To keep himself aware of everything that is said or done among his subjects: he should have spies.... - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

When tyrants are away they are more nervous about those in charge of their finances about the citizens. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The typical tyrant dislikes proud and free-spirited people. He regards himself as the only person entitled to those qualities; and anyone who shows a rival pride and a spirit of freedom destroys the supremacy and master-like character of the tyranny. Thus the tyrant hates such people as destroyers of his rule. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

In earlier times a change from democracy to tyranny took place whenever a popular leader and military leader were one person; indeed most of the early tyrants started by being popular leaders. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The tyrant is also very ready to make war; for this keeps his subjects occupied and in continued need of a leader. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

A tyrant is still a tyrant even though the people do not want him. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Man without virtue is the most savage, the most unrighteous, and the worst in regard to sexual license and gluttony. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The good things which men fight to get are to be won more by virtue than by vice. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

It is difficult for a larger number to reach a high standard in all forms of virtue — with the conspicuous exception of military virtue, which is found in great many people. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The forms of virtue are: Justice, Courage, Magnificence, Magnanimity, Liberality, Gentleness, Prudence, Wisdom. - Aristotle, Rhetoric . c.334-23 BC. .

For a state with a body of disfranchised citizens who are numerous and poor must necessarily be a state which is full of enemies. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

If then nature makes nothing without some end in view, nothing to no purpose, it must be that nature has made all of them for the sake of man. This means that it is according to nature that even the art of war, since hunting is a part of it, should in a sense be a way of acquiring property; and that it must be used both against wild beasts and against such mean as are by nature intended to be ruled over but refuse; for that is the kind of warfare which is by nature just. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The end of war is peace and leisure is the end of work. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

The lawgiver should make particularly sure that his aim both in his military legislation and in his legislation in general is to provide peace and leisure. And facts support theory here, for though most military states survive while they are fighting wars, they fall when they have established their rule. Like steel, they lose their fine temper when at peace; and the lawgiver who has not educated them to able to employ their leisure is to blame. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

We need courage and steadfastness for our own work, philosophy for leisure, and restraint and a sense of justice in both contexts, but particularly in times of leisure and peace. For war forces men to be just and restrained, but the enjoyment of prosperity, and leisure in peacetime, are apt rather to make them arrogant. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

Wealth is a collection of tools for use in the administration of a house or a state. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC.

All that is conquered in war is termed the property of the conquerors. - Aristotle, Politics. c.334-23 BC. As Mr. Steyn pointed out today in a supurb piece (but without a reference to the Aristotle) this maxim is applied universally except for... the Jews.

As he pointed out, for instance, (to wit) "all the migrations of peoples and the changes of the borders in Europe are permanent, but Israel has to sue for the land it won a result of foolish wars started by the Arab countries against it."

Of the great many quotes you kindly supplied, PsyOp, this reverberated with Steyn's piece I just read.

Many of these citations come from his "Ethics," presumably his Nicomachean Ethics. (I looked for a heading for ethics. There is one for virtue.) Here are the opening lines from the Nicomachean Ethics

Every art and every investigation, and likewise every practical pursuit or undertaking, seems to aim at some good: it has been well said that the Good is that at which all things aim.

George McKenna, a teacher at CUNY, recently commented on this passage:

It sounds abstract, even tautological, but Aristotle fleshes it out with examples: the aim of the medical art is health; that of shipbuilding, a vessel; economics, wealth. Then there are some that are connected in a kind of chain: for example, bridle-making exists for the sake of riding; and riding, at least in the cavalry, is part of military strategy; strategy aims at victory, and victory is for the sake of peace. What Aristotle is talking about here is a hierarchy of ends. What are we doing this for? Why are we studying this? What do we hope to accomplish? Education has to have context, connections. It has to have coherence.

Later Mckenna questions the affirmative action policies practiced in the United States. Why the check-offs? Caucasian? Aleut? Why are we doing this? For diversity?

Diverse talents? Diverse points of view? Diverse cultures? Not necessarily. Diverse what, then? Diverse skin colors and geners. Why do we want that? Is ther some connection to wider or deeper knowledge of constitutional law, or skill in teaching it, or ability to relate to our students? Maybe, but we don't know that, and the College hasn't the slightest interest in fiding out. It just wants biological diversity
Aristotle, I think, would be puzzled. If every action and every art aims at some good, and there are hierarchies of goods, where is the good of purely physical diversity? At what higher good is it aimed? Or is it simply a kind of fetish, as if a society decided that it valued bridle-making for its own sake . . .

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