Background Image
Those Who Assert That The Mathematical Sciences Say Nothing Of The Beautiful Or The Good Are In Error. For These Sciences Say And Prove A Great Deal About Them; If They Do Not Expressly Mention Them, But Prove Attributes Which Are Their Results Or Definitions, It Is Not True That They Tell Us Nothing About Them. The Chief Forms Of Beauty Are Order And Symmetry And Definiteness, Which The Mathematical Sciences Demonstrate In A Special Degree.
-Aristotle
Please Wait....
Translating....

Those Who Assert That

Aristotle
Those Who Assert That The Mathematical Sciences Say Nothing Of The Beautiful Or The Good Are In Error. For These Sciences Say And Prove A Great Deal About Them; If They Do Not Expressly Mention Them, But Prove Attributes Which Are Their Results Or Definitions, It Is Not True That They Tell Us Nothing About Them. The Chief Forms Of Beauty Are Order And Symmetry And Definiteness, Which The Mathematical Sciences Demonstrate In A Special Degree.
Views: 77813
Topic
Beautiful
Errors
Order
More From Aristotle
Great Is The Good Fortune Of A State In Which The Citizens Have A Moderate And Sufficient Property.
Citizens
States
Fortune
Bad People...are In Conflict With Themselves; They Desire One Thing And Will Another, Like The Incontinent Who Choose Harmful Pleasures Instead Of What They Themselves Believe To Be Good.
Believe
People
Desire
Now All Orators Effect Their Demonstrative Proofs By Allegation Either Of Enthymems Or Examples, And, Besides These, In No Other Way Whatever.
Example
Way
Proof
The Aim Of The Wise Is Not To Secure Pleasure, But To Avoid Pain.
Wise
Pain
Philosophical
The Roots Of Education Are Bitter, But The Fruit Is Sweet.
Graduation
Education
Sweet
A Flatterer Is A Friend Who Is Your Inferior, Or Pretends To Be So.
Inferiors
Flatterer
Now What Is Just And Right Is To Be Interpreted In The Sense Of 'what Is Equal'; And That Which Is Right In The Sense Of Being Equal Is To Be Considered With Reference To The Advantage Of The State, And The Common Good Of The Citizens. And A Citizen Is One Who Shares In Governing And Being Governed. He Differs Under Different Forms Of Government, But In The Best State He Is One Who Is Able And Willing To Be Governed And To Govern With A View To The Life Of Virtue.
Government
Views
Law
All Art Is Concerned With Coming Into Being.
Art
Art Is
Concerned
People Never Know Each Other Until They Have Eaten A Certain Amount Of Salt Together.
People
Together
Salt
Wicked Me Obey From Fear; Good Men,from Love.
Love
Inspirational
Heartbreak
It Is Clear, Then, That The Earth Must Be At The Centre And Immovable, Not Only For The Reasons Already Given, But Also Because Heavy Bodies Forcibly Thrown Quite Straight Upward Return To The Point From Which They Started, Even If They Are Thrown To An Infinite Distance. From These Considerations Then It Is Clear That The Earth Does Not Move And Does Not Lie Elsewhere Than At The Centre.
Lying
Moving
Science
Friendship Is Essentially A Partnership.
Love
Friendship
Family
The Goal Of War Is Peace, Of Business, Leisure
Business
War
Goal
But Then In What Way Are Things Called Good? They Do Not Seem To Be Like The Things That Only Chance To Have The Same Name. Are Goods One Then By Being Derived From One Good Or By All Contributing To One Good, Or Are They Rather One By Analogy? Certainly As Sight Is In The Body, So Is Reason In The Soul, And So On In Other Cases.
Sight
Names
Soul
The Soul Becomes Prudent By Sitting And Being Quiet.
Soul
Sitting
Prudent
Not To Get What You Have Set Your Heart On Is Almost As Bad As Getting Nothing At All.
Heart
Opinion
The Only Stable State Is The One In Which All Men Are Equal Before The Law.
Witty
Equality
Men
In The Many Forms Of Government Which Have Sprung Up There Has Always Been An Acknowledgement Of Justice And Proportionate Equality, Although Mankind Fail In Attaining Them, As Indeed I Have Already Explained. 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.
Men
Sprung Up
Justice
Civil Confusions Often Spring From Trifles But Decide Great Issues.
Spring
Civilization
Issues
So It Is Clear That The Search For What Is Just Is A Search For The Mean; For The Law Is The Mean.
Mean
Law
Politics
The Two Qualities Which Chiefly Inspire Regard And Affection Are That A Thing Is Your Own And That It Is Your Only One.
Inspiration
Two
Inspire
Conscientious And Careful Physicians Allocate Causes Of Disease To Natural Laws, While The Ablest Scientists Go Back To Medicine For Their First Principles.
Science
Law
Medicine
The Self-indulgent Man Craves For All Pleasant Things... And Is Led By His Appetite To Choose These At The Cost Of Everything Else.
Men
Self
Cost
It Is Not Easy For A Person To Do Any Great Harm When His Tenure Of Office Is Short, Whereas Long Possession Begets Tyranny.
Long
Office
Easy
Equality Consists In The Same Treatment Of Similar Persons.
Equality
Equal Treatment
Persons
All Persons Ought To Endeavor To Follow What Is Right, And Not What Is Established.
Endeavor
Persons
Ought
The Whole Is More Than The Sum Of Its Parts.
Peace
Philosophical
Logical Reasoning
Time Is The Measurable Unit Of Movement Concerning A Before And An After.
Movement
Time Management
Management
That Rule Is The Better Which Is Exercised Over Better Subjects.
Government
Subjects
Experience Has Shown That It Is Difficult, If Not Impossible, For A Populous State To Be Run By Good Laws.
Running
Law
Anarchy
To Leave The Number Of Births Unrestricted, As Is Done In Most States, Inevitably Causes Poverty Among The Citizens, And Poverty Produces Crime And Faction.
Numbers
Political
Poverty
In General, What Is Written Must Be Easy To Read And Easy To Speak; Which Is The Same.
Writing
Speak
Easy
Teaching Is The Highest Form Of Understanding.
Educational
Teaching
Justice
The Man With A Host Of Friends Who Slaps On The Back Everybody He Meets Is Regarded As The Friend Of Nobody.
Men
Host
Popularity
We Are Not Angry With People We Fear Or Respect, As Long As We Fear Or Respect Them; You Cannot Be Afraid Of A Person And Also At The Same Time Angry With Him.
Long
People
Persons
What You Have To Learn To Do, You Learn By Doing.
Persuasion Is Effected Through The Medium Of The Hearers, When They Shall Have Been Brought To A State Of Excitement Under The Influence Of Speech; For We Do Not, When Influenced By Pain Or Joy, Or Partiality Or Dislike, Award Our Decisions In The Same Way; About Which Means Of Persuasion Alone, I Declare That The System-mongers Of The Present Day Busy Themselves.
Pain
Mean
Awards
We Become Just By The Practice Of Just Actions.
Practice
Action
So Virtue Is A Purposive Disposition, Lying In A Mean That Is Relative To Us And Determined By A Rational Principle, And By That Which A Prudent Man Would Use To Determine It. It Is A Mean Between Two Kinds Of Vice, One Of Excess And The Other Of Deficiency.
Lying
Mean
Men
In Poverty And Other Misfortunes Of Life, True Friends Are A Sure Refuge.
True Friend
True Life
Comfort
Shame Is An Ornament To The Young; A Disgrace To The Old.
Ornaments
Shame
Young
People Generally Despise Where They Flatter.
People
Flattery
Despise
And Of Course, The Brain Is Not Responsible For Any Of The Sensations At All. The Correct View Is That The Seat And Source Of Sensation Is The Region Of The Heart.
Heart
Views
Brain
Pleasure Causes Us To Do Base Actions And Pain Causes Us To Abstain From Doing Noble Actions.
Pain
Noble
Causes
Men Create The Gods After Their Own Images.
Men
Religion
Atheism
In Bad Or Corrupted Natures The Body Will Often Appear To Rule Over The Soul, Because They Are In An Evil And Unnatural Condition. At All Events We May Firstly Observe In Living Creatures Both A Despotical And A Constitutional Rule; For The Soul Rules The Body With A Despotical Rule, Whereas The Intellect Rules The Appetites With A Constitutional And Royal Rule. And It Is Clear That The Rule Of The Soul Over The Body, And Of The Mind And The Rational Element Over The Passionate, Is Natural And Expedient; Whereas The Equality Of The Two Or The Rule Of The Inferior Is Always Hurtful.
Two
Evil
Soul
Character Is That Which Reveals Moral Purpose, Exposing The Class Of Things A Man Chooses And Avoids.
Character
Angel
Men
Neither Old People Nor Sour People Seem To Make Friends Easily; For There Is Little That Is Pleasant In Them.
Friends
People
Littles
It Must Not Be Supposed That Happiness Will Demand Many Or Great Possessions; For Self-sufficiency Does Not Depend On Excessive Abundance, Nor Does Moral Conduct, And It Is Possible To Perform Noble Deeds Even Without Being Ruler Of Land And Sea: One Can Do Virtuous Acts With Quite Moderate Resources. This May Be Clearly Observed In Experience: Private Citizens Do Not Seem To Be Less But More Given To Doing Virtuous Actions Than Princes And Potentates. It Is Sufficient Then If Moderate Resources Are Forthcoming; For A Life Of Virtuous Activity Will Be Essentially A Happy Life.
Happiness
Happy Life
Self
Courage Is The Mother Of All Virtues Because Without It, You Cannot Consistently Perform The Others.
Mother
Virtue
Consistently
The Virtue As The Art Consecrates Itself Constantly To What's Difficult To Do, And The Harder The Task, The Shinier The Success.
Art
Tasks
Virtue
The Gods Too Are Fond Of A Joke.
Inspirational
Life
God
A True Disciple Shows His Appreciation By Reaching Further Than His Teacher.
Teacher
Appreciation
Teaching
To Appreciate The Beauty Of A Snow Flake, It Is Necessary To Stand Out In The Cold.
Learning
Snow
Appreciate
Special Care Should Be Taken Of The Health Of The Inhabitants, Which Will Depend Chiefly On The Healthiness Of The Locality And Of The Quarter To Which They Are Exposed, And Secondly On The Use Of Pure Water; This Latter Point Is By No Means A Secondary Consideration. For The Elements Which We Use The Most And Oftenest For The Support Of The Body Contribute Most To Health, And Among Those Are Water And Air. Wherefore, In All Wise States, If There Is Want Of Pure Water, And The Supply Is Not All Equally Good, The Drinking Water Ought To Be Separated From That Which Is Used For Other Purposes.
Education
Wise
Drinking
Thus Every Action Must Be Due To One Or Other Of Seven Causes: Chance, Nature, Compulsion, Habit, Reasoning, Anger, Or Appetite.
Nature
Causes
Chance
We Praise A Man Who Feels Angry On The Right Grounds And Against The Right Persons And Also In The Right Manner At The Right Moment And For The Right Length Of Time.
Anger
Men
Praise
If Everything When It Occupies An Equal Space Is At Rest, And If That Which Is In Locomotion Is Always Occupying Such A Space At Any Moment, The Flying Arrow Is Therefore Motionless.
Arrows
Space
Flying
The Greater The Length, The More Beautiful Will The Piece Be By Reason Of Its Size, Provided That The Whole Be Perspicuous.
Beautiful
Pieces
Size
Authority Is No Source For Truth.
Authority
Source
It Is Of The Nature Of Desire Not To Be Satisfied, And Most Men Live Only For The Gratification Of It.
Men
Desire
Sisyphus
He Who Has Conferred A Benefit On Anyone From Motives Of Love Or Honor Will Feel Pain, If He Sees That The Benefit Is Received Without Gratitude.
Gratitude
Pain
Honor
Where Some People Are Very Wealthy And Others Have Nothing, The Result Will Be Either Extreme Democracy Or Absolute Oligarchy, Or Despotism Will Come From Either Of Those Excesses.
People
Democracy
Excess
Wickedness Is Nourished By Lust.
Lust
Wickedness
All Men Desire By Nature To Know.
Men
Desire
Awareness
The Activity Of Happiness Must Occupy An Entire Lifetime; For One Swallow Does Not A Summer Make.
Happiness
Summer
Doe
So That The Lover Of Myths, Which Are A Compact Of Wonders, Is By The Same Token A Lover Of Wisdom.
Lovers
Wonder
Myth
There Is No Such Thing As Committing Adultery With The Right Woman, At The Right Time, And In The Right Way, For It Is Simply Wrong.
Way
Adultery
Right Time
Art Completes What Nature Cannot Bring To Finish. The Artist Gives Us Knowledge Of Nature's Unrealized Ends.
Art
Artist
Giving
It Is More Difficult To Organize A Peace Than To Win A War; But The Fruits Of Victory Will Be Lost If The Peace Is Not Organized.
Peace
War
Winning
The Democrats Think That As They Are Equal They Ought To Be Equal In All Things.
Equality
Thinking
Democrat
The High-minded Man Is Fond Of Conferring Benefits, But It Shames Him To Receive Them.
Men
Benefits
Shame
The Heart Is The Perfection Of The Whole Organism. Therefore The Principles Of The Power Of Perception And The Souls Ability To Nourish Itself Must Lie In The Heart.
Lying
Heart
Perfection
A Proper Wife Should Be As Obedient As A Slave... The Female Is A Female By Virtue Of A Certain Lack Of Qualities - A Natural Defectiveness.
Wife
Quality
Female
Men Are Divided Between Those Who Are As Thrifty As If They Would Live Forever, And Those Who Are As Extravagant As If They Were Going To Die The Next Day.
Men
Next Day
Forever
Why Is It That All Those Who Have Become Eminent In Philosophy, Politics, Poetry, Or The Arts Are Clearly Of An Atrabilious Temperament And Some Of Them To Such An Extent As To Be Affected By Diseases Caused By Black Bile?
Depression
Art
Philosophy
A Fool Contributes Nothing Worth Hearing And Takes Offense At Everything.
Hearing
Fool
Nonsense
Every Wicked Man Is In Ignorance As To What He Ought To Do, And From What To Abstain, And It Is Because Of Error Such As This That Men Become Unjust And, In A Word, Wicked.
Ignorance
Men
Errors
The Male Has More Teeth Than The Female In Mankind, And Sheep And Goats, And Swine. This Has Not Been Observed In Other Animals. Those Persons Which Have The Greatest Number Of Teeth Are The Longest Lived; Those Which Have Them Widely Separated, Smaller, And More Scattered, Are Generally More Short Lived.
Science
Animal
Sheep
It Is No Part Of A Physician's Business To Use Either Persuasion Or Compulsion Upon The Patients.
Science
Physicians
Use
Happiness Is An Activity Of The Soul In Accordance With Virtue
Soul
Virtue
Nicomachean Ethics
A Life Of Wealth And Many Belongings Is Only A Means To Happiness. Honor, Power, And Success Cannot Be Happiness Because They Depend On The Whims Of Others, And Happiness Should Be Self-contained, Complete In Itself.
Mean
Self
Honor
I Say That Habit's But A Long Practice, Friend, And This Becomes Men's Nature In The End.
Inspirational
Men
Practice
There Also Appears To Be Another Element In The Soul, Which, Though Irrational, Yet In A Manner Participates In Rational Principle.
Soul
Principles
Elements
Most People Would Rather Give Than Get Affection.
People
Giving
Affection
Happiness, Then, Is Found To Be Something Perfect And Self-sufficient, Being The End To Which Our Actions Are Directed.
Happiness
Self
Perfect
Some Persons Hold That, While It Is Proper For The Lawgiver To Encourage And Exhort Men To Virtue On Moral Grounds, In The Expectation That Those Who Have Had A Virtuous Moral Upbringing Will Respond, Yet He Is Bound To Impose Chastisement And Penalties On The Disobedient And Ill-conditioned, And To Banish The Incorrigible Out Of The State Altogether. For (they Argue) Although The Virtuous Man, Who Guides His Life By Moral Ideals, Will Be Obedient To Reason, The Base, Whose Desires Are Fixed On Pleasure, Must Be Chastised By Pain, Like A Beast Of Burden.
Pain
Men
Law
It Will Contribute Towards One's Object, Who Wishes To Acquire A Facility In The Gaining Of Knowledge, To Doubt Judiciously.
Doubt
Wish
Objects
Actions Determine What Kind Of Characteristics Are Developed.
Kindness
Action
Characteristics
But If Nothing But Soul, Or In Soul Mind, Is Qualified To Count, It Is Impossible For There To Be Time Unless There Is Soul, But Only That Of Which Time Is An Attribute, I.e. If Change Can Exist Without Soul.
Soul
Mind
Impossible
There Are Branches Of Learning And Education Which We Must Study Merely With A View To Leisure Spent In Intellectual Activity, And These Are To Be Valued For Their Own Sake; Whereas Those Kinds Of Knowledge Which Are Useful In Business Are To Be Deemed Necessary, And Exist For The Sake Of Other Things.
Education
Views
Intellectual
Again, It Is Possible To Fail In Many Ways (for Evil Belongs To The Class Of The Unlimited And Good To That Of The Limited), While To Succeed Is Possible Only In One Way (for Which Reason Also One Is Easy And The Other Difficult—to Miss The Mark Easy, To Hit It Difficult); For These Reasons Also, Then, Excess And Defect Are Characteristic Of Vice, And The Mean Of Virtue; For Men Are Good In But One Way, But Bad In Many.
Mean
Men
Class
We Work To Earn Our Leisure.
Leisure
Hence Poetry Is Something More Philosophic And Of Graver Import Than History, Since Its Statements Are Of The Nature Rather Of Universals, Whereas Those Of History Are Singulars.
Nature
Great Poetry
Poetry Is
Gentleness Is The Ability To Bear Reproaches And Slights With Moderation, And Not To Embark On Revenge Quickly, And Not To Be Easily Provoked To Anger, But Be Free From Bitterness And Contentiousness, Having Tranquility And Stability In The Spirit.
Revenge
Attachment
Bitterness
It Is Clear, Then, That Wisdom Is Knowledge Having To Do With Certain Principles And Causes. But Now, Since It Is This Knowledge That We Are Seeking, We Must Consider The Following Point: Of What Kind Of Principles And Of What Kind Of Causes Is Wisdom The Knowledge?
Words Of Wisdom
Principles
Causes
This Much Then, Is Clear: In All Our Conduct It Is The Mean That Is To Be Commended.
Mean
Action
Clear
Neglect Of An Effective Birth Control Policy Is A Never-failing Source Of Poverty Which, In Turn, Is The Parent Of Revolution And Crime.
Parent
Birth Control
Poverty
It Is Homer Who Has Chiefly Taught Other Poets The Art Of Telling Lies Skillfully.
Art
Lying
Taught
To Die In Order To Avoid The Pains Of Poverty, Love, Or Anything That Is Disagreeable, Is Not The Part Of A Brave Man, But Of A Coward.
Sad
Suicide
Pain
The Moral Virtues, Then, Are Produced In Us Neither By Nature Nor Against Nature. Nature, Indeed, Prepares In Us The Ground For Their Reception, But Their Complete Formation Is The Product Of Habit.
Life
Nature
Preparation
Whereas The Law Is Passionless, Passion Must Ever Sway The Heart Of Man.
Passion
Heart
Men
One Can Aim At Honor Both As One Ought, And More Than One Ought, And Less Than One Ought. He Whose Craving For Honor Is Excessive Is Said To Be Ambitious, And He Who Is Deficient In This Respect Unambitious; While He Who Observes The Mean Has No Peculiar Name.
Mean
Names
Honor
Nothing Is What Rocks Dream About
Dream
Rocks
He Who Cannot Be A Good Follower Cannot Be A Good Leader.
Leadership
Dancing
Followers
The Aim Of Education Is To Make The Pupil Like And Dislike What He Ought....the Little Human Animal Will Not At First Have The Right Responses. It Must Be Trained To Feel Pleasure, Liking, Disgust, And Hatred At Those Things Which Really Are Pleasant, Likable, Disgusting, And Hateful.
Animal
Hatred
Aim Of Education
While Fiction Is Often Impossible, It Should Not Be Implausible.
Book
Fiction
Impossible
It Is Well To Be Up Before Daybreak, For Such Habits Contribute To Health, Wealth, And Wisdom.
Motivational
Morning
Health
Beauty Is A Gift Of God.
Beauty
Gift From God
The Coward Calls The Brave Man Rash, The Rash Man Calls Him A Coward.
Courage
Men
Brave
At His Best, Man Is The Noblest Of All Animals; Separated From Law And Justice He Is The Worst.
Philosophy
Animal
Men
The Principle Aim Of Gymnastics Is The Education Of All Youth And Not Simply That Minority Of People Highly Favored By Nature.
Gymnastics
People
Principles
And Yet The True Creator Is Necessity, Which Is The Mother Of Invention.
Mother
Invention
Creator
All Art Is Concerned With Coming Into Being; For It Is Concerned Neither With Things That Are, Or Come Into Being By Necessity, Nor With Things That Do So In Accordance With Nature.
Art
Artist
Art Is
The Happy Man . . . Will Be Always Or At Least Most Often Employed In Doing And Contemplating The Things That Are In Conformity With Virtue. And He Will Bear Changes Of Fortunes Most Nobly, And With Perfect Propriety In Every Way.
Happiness
Men
Perfect
Rightness In Our Choice Of An End Is Secured By [moral] Virtue.
Choices
Moral
Virtue
Emotions Of Any Kind Are Produced By Melody And Rhythm; Therefore By Music A Man Becomes Accustomed To Feeling The Right Emotions; Music Has Thus The Power To Form Character, And The Various Kinds Of Music Based On Various Modes May Be Distinguished By Their Effects On Character.
Character
Men
Feelings
We Are What We Frequently Do.
Character
Personal Growth
Wicked Men Obey Out Of Fear. Good Men, Out Of Love
Men
Good Man
Wicked
This Body Is Not A Home, But An Inn; And That Only For A Short Time. Seneca Friendship Is Composed Of A Single Soul Inhabiting Two Bodies.
Home
Two
Soul
It Is Absurd To Hold That A Man Ought To Be Ashamed Of Being Unable To Defend Himself With His Limbs, But Not Of Being Unable To Defend Himself With Speech And Reason, When The Use Of Rational Speech Is More Distinctive Of A Human Being Than The Use Of His Limbs.
Men
Inability
Use
Happiness Is The Highest Good
Inspirational
Philosophical
Highest
These, Then, Are The Four Kinds Of Royalty. First The Monarchy Of The Heroic Ages; This Was Exercised Over Voluntary Subjects, But Limited To Certain Functions; The King Was A General And A Judge, And Had The Control Of Religion The Second Is That Of The Barbarians, Which Is A Hereditary Despotic Government In Accordance With Law. A Third Is The Power Of The So-called Aesynmete Or Dictator; This Is An Elective Tyranny. The Fourth Is The Lacedaemonian, Which Is In Fact A Generalship, Hereditary And Perpetual.
Kings
Government
Law
Equity Is That Idea Of Justice Which Contravenes The Written Law.
Law
Ideas
Justice
The Ensouled Is Distinguished From The Unsouled By Its Being Alive. Now Since Being Alive Is Spoken Of In Many Ways, Even If Only One Of These Is Present, We Say That The Thing Is Alive, If, For Instance, There Is Intellect Or Perception Or Spatial Movement And Rest Or Indeed Movement Connected With Nourishment And Growth And Decay. It Is For This Reason That All The Plants Are Also Held To Be Alive . . .
Soul
Perception
Growth
If The Hammer And The Shuttle Could Move Themselves, Slavery Would Be Unnecessary.
Moving
Atheism
Would Be
It Is Not Always The Same Thing To Be A Good Man And A Good Citizen.
Motivation
Character
Patriotic
We Laugh At That Which We Cannot Bear To Face.
Laughing
Faces
Bears
The Purpose Of The Present Study Is Not As It Is In Other Inquiries, The Attainment Of Knowledge, We Are Not Conducting This Inquiry In Order To Know What Virtue Is, But In Order To Become Good, Else There Would Be No Advantage In Studying It. For That Reason, It Becomes Necessary To Examine The Problem Of Our Actions And To Ask How They Are To Be Performed. For As We Have Said, The Actions Determine What Kind Of Characteristics Are Developed.
Order
Would Be
Purpose
Victory Is Plesant, Not Only To Those Who Love To Conquer, Bot To All; For There Is Produced An Idea Of Superiority, Which All With More Or Less Eagerness Desire.
Pride
Ideas
Victory
If A Man Of Good Natural Disposition Acquires Intelligence [as A Whole], Then He Excels In Conduct, And The Disposition Which Previously Only Resembled Virtue, Will Now Be Virtue In The True Sense. Hence Just As With The Faculty Of Forming Opinions [the Calculative Faculty] There Are Two Qualities, Cleverness And Prudence, So Also In The Moral Part Of The Soul There Are Two Qualities, Natural Virtue And True Virtue; And True Virtue Cannot Exist Without Prudence.
Men
Two
Soul
We Can Do Noble Acts Without Ruling The Earth And Sea.
Character
Sea
Noble
Character Is Determined By Choice, Not Opinion.
Character
Choices
Determined
It Is Clear That Those Constitutions Which Aim At The Common Good Are Right, As Being In Accord With Absolute Justice; While Those Which Aim Only At The Good Of The Rulers Are Wrong.
Justice
Political
Common
Soul And Body, I Suggest React Sympathetically Upon Each Other. A Change In The State Of The Soul Produces A Change In The Shape Of The Body And Conversely, A Change In The Shape Of The Body Produces A Change In The State Of The Soul.
Soul And Body
Shapes
States
Every Formed Disposition Of The Soul Realizes Its Full Nature In Relation To And Dealing With That Class Of Objects By Which It Is Its Nature To Be Corrupted Or Improved.
Class
Soul
Moral
It Is The Mark Of An Educated Mind To Be Able To Entertain A Thought Without Accepting It.
Inspirational
Motivational
Leadership
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 Government To The Utmost.
Freedom
Equality
Democracies Have
The Man Who Confers A Favour Would Rather Not Be Repaid In The Same Coin.
Men
Coins
Favour
Think As The Wise Men Think, But Talk Like The Simple People Do.
Wise
Simple
Men
The Soul Has Two Parts, One Rational And The Other Irrational. Let Us Now Similarly Divide The Rational Part, And Let It Be Assumed That There Are Two Rational Faculties, One Whereby We Contemplate Those Things Whose First Principles Are Invariable, And One Whereby We Contemplate Those Things Which Admit Of Variation.
Two
Soul
Principles
At First He Who Invented Any Art That Went Beyond The Common Perceptions Of Man Was Naturally Admired By Men, Not Only Because There Was Something Useful In The Inventions, But Because He Was Thought Wise And Superior To The Rest. But As More Arts Were Invented, And Some Were Directed To The Necessities Of Life, Others To Its Recreation, The Inventors Of The Latter Were Always Regarded As Wiser Than The Inventors Of The Former, Because Their Branches Of Knowledge Did Not Aim At Utility.
Wise
Art
Knowledge
The Worst Thing About Slavery Is That The Slaves Eventually Get To Like It.
Slavery
Slave
Worst
A Government Which Is Composed Of The Middle Class More Nearly Approximates To Democracy Than To Oligarchy, And Is The Safest Of The Imperfect Forms Of Government.
Class
Government
Democracy
Bravery Is A Mean State Concerned With Things That Inspire Confidence And With Things Fearful ... And Leading Us To Choose Danger And To Face It, Either Because To Do So Is Noble, Or Because Not To Do So Is Base. But To Court Death As An Escape From Poverty, Or From Love, Or From Some Grievous Pain, Is No Proof Of Bravery, But Rather Of Cowardice.
Pain
Mean
Bravery
It Concerns Us To Know The Purposes We Seek In Life, For Then, Like Archers Aiming At A Definite Mark, We Shall Be More Likely To Attain What We Want.
Life
Archer
Purpose
Whereas Young People Become Accomplished In Geometry And Mathematics, And Wise Within These Limits, Prudent Young People Do Not Seem To Be Found. The Reason Is That Prudence Is Concerned With Particulars As Well As Universals, And Particulars Become Known From Experience, But A Young Person Lacks Experience, Since Some Length Of Time Is Needed To Produce It.
Wise
Knowledge
Learning
We Give Up Leisure In Order That We May Have Leisure, Just As We Go To War In Order That We May Have Peace.
Peace
Giving Up
War
Therefore, Even The Lover Of Myth Is A Philosopher; For Myth Is Composed Of Wonder.
Philosopher
Lovers
Wonder
In All Things Which Have A Plurality Of Parts, And Which Are Not A Total Aggregate But A Whole Of Some Sort Distinct From The Parts, There Is Some Cause.
Science
Causes
All Things
Neither By Nature, Then, Nor Contrary To Nature Do The Virtues Arise In Us; Rather We Are Adapted By Nature To Receive Them, And Are Made Perfect By Habit.
Perfect
Virtue
Habit
There Is Nothing Strange In The Circle Being The Origin Of Any And Every Marvel.
Math
Circles
Strange
Every Art And Every Inquiry, And Similarly Every Action And Choice, Is Thought To Aim At Some Good; And For This Reason The Good Has Rightly Been Declared To Be That At Which All Things Aim.
Art
Choices
Inquiry
What We Expect, That We Find.
Law Of Attraction
Attraction
Whereas Happiness Is The Highest Good, Being A Realization And Perfect Practice Of Virtue, Which Some Can Attain, While Others Have Little Or None Of It, The Various Qualities Of Men Are Clearly The Reason Why There Are Various Kinds Of States And Many Forms Of Government; For Different Men Seek After Happiness In Different Ways And By Different Means, And So Make For Themselves Different Modes Of Life And Forms Of Government.
Mean
Men
Practice
Youth Should Stay Away From All Evil, Especially Things That Produce Wickedness And Ill-will.
Parenting
Ill Will
Evil
The Things Best To Know Are First Principles And Causes, But These Things Are Perhaps The Most Difficult For Men To Grasp, For They Are Farthest Removed From The Senses.
Ignorance
Men
Principles
Demonstration Is Also Something Necessary, Because A Demonstration Cannot Go Otherwise Than It Does, ... And The Cause Of This Lies With The Primary Premises/principles.
Lying
Words Of Wisdom
Causes
Music Has The Power Of Producing A Certain Effect On The Moral Character Of The Soul, And If It Has The Power To Do This, It Is Clear That The Young Must Be Directed To Music And Must Be Educated In It.
Character
Soul
Theatre
Moral Qualities Are So Constituted As To Be Destroyed By Excess And By Deficiency . . .
Quality
Excess
Moral
If There Is Any Kind Of Animal Which Is Female And Has No Male Separate From It, It Is Possible That This May Generate A Young One From Itself. No Instance Of This Worthy Of Any Credit Has Been Observed Up To The Present At Any Rate, But One Case In The Class Of Fishes Makes Us Hesitate. No Male Of The So-called Erythrinus Has Ever Yet Been Seen, But Females, And Specimens Full Of Roe, Have Been Seen. Of This, However, We Have As Yet No Proof Worthy Of Credit.
Animal
Class
Males
The Rattle Is A Toy Suited To The Infant Mind, And Education Is A Rattle Or Toy For Children Of Larger Growth.
Children
Growth
Mind
Every Community Is An Association Of Some Kind And Every Community Is Established With A View To Some Good; For Everyone Always Acts In Order To Obtain That Which They Think Good. But, If All Communities Aim At Some Good, The State Or Political Community, Which Is The Highest Of All, And Which Embraces All The Rest, Aims At Good In A Greater Degree Than Any Other, And At The Highest Good.
Thinking
Views
Order
Health Is A Matter Of Choice, Not A Mystery Of Chance
Choices
Matter
Chance
Quid Quid Movetur Ab Alio Movetur"(nothing Moves Without Having Been Moved).
Moving
Moved
Happiness Depends Upon Ourselves.
Inspirational
Happiness
Adventure
Happiness Is Prosperity Combined With Virtue.
Prosperity
Virtue
There Is Only One Condition In Which We Can Imagine Managers Not Needing Subordinates, And Masters Not Needing Slaves. This Condition Would Be That Each (inanimate) Instrument Could Do Its Own Work.
Would Be
Imagine
Slave
Yet The True Friend Of The People Should See That They Be Not Too Poor, For Extreme Povery Lowers The Character Of The Democracy; Measures Therefore Should Be Taken Which Will Give Them Lasting Prosperity; And As This Is Equally The Interest Of All Classes, The Proceeds Of The Public Revenues Should Be Accumulated And Distributed Among Its Poor, If Possible, In Such Quantities As May Enable Them To Purchase A Little Farm, Or, At Any Rate, Make A Beginning In Trade Or Husbandry.
True Friend
Taken
Character
How Strange It Is That Socrates, After Having Made The Children Common, Should Hinder Lovers From Carnal Intercourse Only, But Should Permit Love And Familiarities Between Father And Son Or Between Brother And Brother, Than Which Nothing Can Be More Unseemly, Since Even Without Them Love Of This Sort Is Improper. How Strange, Too, To Forbid Intercourse For No Other Reason Than The Violence Of The Pleasure, As Though The Relationship Of Father And Son Or Of Brothers With One Another Made No Difference.
Brother
Children
Father
The Trade Of The Petty Usurer Is Hated With Most Reason: It Makes A Profit From Currency Itself, Instead Of Making It From The Process Which Currency Was Meant To Serve. Their Common Characteristic Is Obviously Their Sordid Avarice.
Common
Reason
Currency
How Many A Dispute Could Have Been Deflated Into A Single Paragraph If The Disputants Had Dared To Define Their Terms
Argument
Disputes
Term
Perhaps Here We Have A Clue To The Reason Why Royal Rule Used To Exist Formerly, Namely The Difficulty Of Finding Enough Men Of Outstanding Virtue.
Men
Political
Royal
You'll Understand What Life Is If You Think About The Act Of Dying. When I Die, How Will I Be Different From The Way I Am Right Now? In The First Moments After Death, My Body Will Be Scarcely Different In Physical Terms Than It Was In The Last Seconds Of Life, But I Will No Longer Move, No Longer Sense, Nor Speak, Nor Feel, Nor Care. It's These Things That Are Life. At That Moment, The Psyche Takes Flight In The Last Breath.
Life
Moving
Thinking
In Painting, The Most Brilliant Colors, Spread At Random And Without Design, Will Give Far Less Pleasure Than The Simplest Outline Of A Figure.
Art
Color
Giving
Excellence Is An Art Won By Training And Habituation. We Do Not Act Rightly Because We Have Virtue Or Excellence, But We Rather Have Those Because We Have Acted Rightly. We Are What We Repeatedly Do. Excellence, Then, Is Not An Act But A Habit.
Inspirational
Motivational
Inspiring
The High-minded Man Must Care More For The Truth Than For What People Think.
Truth
Science
Men
With The Truth, All Given Facts Harmonize; But With What Is False, The Truth Soon Hits A Wrong Note.
Music
Facts
Notes
A Friend To All Is A Friend To None.
Friendship
Fake Friends
Wisdom
The Vices Respectively Fall Short Of Or Exceed What Is Right In Both Passions And Actions, While Virtue Both Finds And Chooses That Which Is Intermediate.
Fall
Passion
Vices
He Is His Own Best Friend And Takes Delight In Privacy Whereas The Man Of No Virtue Or Ability Is His Own Worst Enemy And Is Afraid Of Solitude.
Single
Men
Worst Enemy
Education Is The Best Provision For Old Age.
Graduation
Education
Teaching
You Will Never Do Anything In This World Without Courage. It Is The Greatest Quality Of The Mind Next To Honor.
Inspirational
Encouraging
Confidence
Without Virtue It Is Difficult To Bear Gracefully The Honors Of Fortune.
Honor
Bears
Virtue
If You String Together A Set Of Speeches Expressive Of Character, And Well Finished In Point And Diction And Thought, You Will Not Produce The Essential Tragic Effect Nearly So Well As With A Play Which, However Deficient In These Respects, Yet Has A Plot And Artistically Constructed Incidents.
Character
Play
Together
Democracy Is The Form Of Government In Which The Free Are Rulers.
Government
Democracy
Form
Our Youth Should Also Be Educated With Music And Physical Education.
Education
School
Youth
Inasmuch As Every Family Is A Part Of A State, And These Relationships Are The Parts Of A Family, And The Virtue Of The Part Must Have Regard To The Virtue Of The Whole, Women And Children Must Be Trained By Education With An Eye To The Constitution, If The Virtues Of Either Of Them Are Supposed To Make Any Difference In The Virtues Of The State. And They Must Make A Difference: For The Children Grow Up To Be Citizens, And Half The Free Persons In A State Are Women.
Education
Children
Growing Up
In Part, Art Completes What Nature Cannot Elaborate; And In Part It Imitates Nature.
Art
And Inasmuch As The Great-souled Man Deserves Most, He Must Be The Best Of Men; For The Better A Man Is The More He Deserves, And He That Is Best Deserves Most. Therefore The Truly Great-souled Man Must Be A Good Man. Indeed Greatness In Each Of The Virtues Would Seem To Go With Greatness Of Soul.
Greatness
Men
Soul
Now If There Is Any Gift Of The Gods To Men, It Is Reasonable That Happiness Should Be God-given, And Most Surely God-given Of All Human Things Inasmuch As It Is The Best. But This Question Would Perhaps Be More Appropriate To Another Inquiry; Happiness Seems, However, Even If It Is Not God-sent But Comes As A Result Of Virtue And Some Process Of Learning And Training, To Be Among The Most God-like Things; For That Which Is The Prize And End Of Virtue Seems To Be The Best Thing In The World, And Something God-like And Blessed.
Happiness
Blessed
Men
What The Statesman Is Most Anxious To Produce Is A Certain Moral Character In His Fellow Citizens, Namely A Disposition To Virtue And The Performance Of Virtuous Actions.
Character
Anxiety
Political
...happiness Is An Activity And A Complete Utilization Of Virtue, Not Conditionally But Absolutely.
Politics
Virtue
Utilization
Before You Heal The Body You Must First Heal The Mind
Mind
Body
Firsts
We Assume Therefore That Moral Virtue Is The Quality Of Acting In The Best Way In Relation To Pleasures And Pains, And That Vice Is The Opposite.
Pain
Opposites
Quality
Aristocracy Is That Form Of Government In Which Education And Discipline Are Qualifications For Suffrage And Office Holding.
Government
Discipline
Office
The Light Of The Day Is Followed By Night, As A Shadow Follows A Body.
Night
Light
Shadow
The Specific Excellence Of Verbal Expression In Poetry Is To Be Clear Without Being Low.
Expression
Excellence
Lows
Happiness Does Not Lie In Amusement; It Would Be Strange If One Were To Take Trouble And Suffer Hardship All One's Life In Order To Amuse Oneself.
Happiness
Lying
Order
Where It Is In Our Power To Act, It Is Also In Our Power To Not Act.
Nicomachean Ethics
Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.


2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.


2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.


2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.


3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.


3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.


3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.



4. Proper Usage of Quotes


4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.


4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.


4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).


5. Common Mistakes to Avoid


5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.


5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.


5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.



6. Quotes in Different Contexts


6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.


6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.


6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.



7. Punctuation and Formatting


Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:


Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.


Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.


Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.



8. Ethical Considerations


Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes


Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.



Conclusion


Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.


Trending Author
Phil Anselmo
Alan Coren
Baron Hill
John Ritter
Robert Smith
Susan Sontag
Category
Information