Aristotle

Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.

It is a sacred duty to prefer the truth to one's friends.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution.

Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach.

Where your talents and the needs of the world cross; there lies your vocation.

Happiness seems to depend on leisure.

The gods too are fond of a joke.

Wit is educated insolence.

It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.

Life is only meaningful when we are striving for a goal.

He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.

Bashfulness is an ornament to youth, but a reproach to old age.

Nothing is more dangerous to men than a sudden change of fortune.

The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.

We become just by performing just action, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave action.

Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind.

The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.

Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.

Nature does nothing in vain.

Education is the best provision for old age.

It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken.

Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion. This is not a function of any other art.

Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach.

In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge. The young they keep out of mischief; to the old they are a comfort and aid in their weakness, and those in the prime of life they incite to noble deeds.

Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last.

To attain any assured knowledge about the soul is one of the most difficult things in the world.

Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.

The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.

Man is by nature a political animal.

Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.

You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.

Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them.

The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead.

The energy of the mind is the essence of life.

Jealousy is both reasonable and belongs to reasonable men, while envy is base and belongs to the base, for the one makes himself get good things by jealousy, while the other does not allow his neighbour to have them through envy.

It is just that we should be grateful, not only to those with whose views we may agree, but also to those who have expressed more superficial views; for these also contributed something, by developing before us the powers of thought.

Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.

The end of labor is to gain leisure.

At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.

The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.

Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.

A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side.

Well begun is half done.

Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms.

He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.

The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.

The law is reason, free from passion.

The soul never thinks without a picture.

The state comes into existence for the sake of life and continues to exist for the sake of good life.

The whole is more than the sum of its parts.

Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.

Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion.

I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.

Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.

What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.

Man is the only animal capable of reasoning, though many others possess the faculty of memory and instruction in common with him.

There is no great genius without some touch of madness.

The secret to humor is surprise.

Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.

Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

We make war that we may live in peace.

Hope is a waking dream.

Happiness depends upon ourselves.

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.

Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.

A friend to all is a friend to none.

Quality is not an act, it is a habit.

Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.

That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful.

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.

There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.

In anger, we should refrain both from speech and action.

The purpose of knowledge is action, not knowledge.

Freedom is obedience to self-formulated rules.