Stacey's blog: "Rambles"

A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one. Aristotle A true friend is one soul in two bodies. Aristotle 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. Aristotle All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire. Aristotle All men by nature desire to know. Aristotle All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind. Aristotle All virtue is summed up in dealing justly. Aristotle 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. Aristotle At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst. Aristotle Bad men are full of repentance. Aristotle Bashfulness is an ornament to youth, but a reproach to old age. Aristotle Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms. Aristotle Bring your desires down to your present means. Increase them only when your increased means permit. Aristotle Change in all things is sweet. Aristotle Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others. Aristotle Democracy 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 Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers. Aristotle 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. Aristotle Dignity consists not in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them. Aristotle Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them. Aristotle Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity. Aristotle Education is the best provision for old age. Aristotle Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil. Aristotle For what is the best choice, for each individual is the highest it is possible for him to achieve. Aristotle Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies. Aristotle Friendship is essentially a partnership. Aristotle Great men are always of a nature originally melancholy. Aristotle Happiness depends upon ourselves. Aristotle 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. Aristotle Homer has taught all other poets the art of telling lies skillfully. Aristotle Hope is a waking dream. Aristotle Hope is the dream of a waking man. Aristotle I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self. Aristotle I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law. Aristotle 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. Aristotle If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is nature's way. Aristotle In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme. Aristotle In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous. Aristotle In nine cases out of ten, a woman had better show more affection than she feels. Aristotle 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. Aristotle It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken. Aristotle It is Homer who has chiefly taught other poets the art of telling lies skillfully. Aristotle 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. Aristotle It is not once nor twice but times without number that the same ideas make their appearance in the world. Aristotle It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Aristotle It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims. Aristotle Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. Aristotle Man is by nature a political animal. Aristotle Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way. Aristotle Men are swayed more by fear than by reverence. Aristotle Men create gods after their own image, not only with regard to their form but with regard to their mode of life. Aristotle 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. Aristotle Most people would rather give than get affection. Aristotle Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own. Aristotle My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake. Aristotle Nature does nothing uselessly. Aristotle No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness. Aristotle No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness. Aristotle No notice is taken of a little evil, but when it increases it strikes the eye. Aristotle No one would choose a friendless existence on condition of having all the other things in the world. Aristotle Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved. Aristotle Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference. Aristotle Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth. Aristotle Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular. Aristotle Politicians also have no leisure, because they are always aiming at something beyond political life itself, power and glory, or happiness. Aristotle Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities. Aristotle Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms. Aristotle Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind. Aristotle That in the soul which is called the mind is, before it thinks, not actually any real thing. Aristotle The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. Aristotle The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain. Aristotle The appropriate age for marriage is around eighteen for girls and thirty-seven for men. Aristotle The best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake. Aristotle The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead. Aristotle The end of labor is to gain leisure. Aristotle The gods too are fond of a joke. Aristotle The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons. Aristotle The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances. Aristotle The law is reason, free from passion. Aristotle The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold. Aristotle 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. Aristotle The more thou dost advance, the more thy feet pitfalls will meet. The Path that leadeth on is lighted by one fire- the light of daring burning in the heart. The more one dares, the more he shall obtain. The more he fears, the more that light shall pale - and that alone can guide. Aristotle The most perfect political community is one in which the middle class is in control, and outnumbers both of the other classes. Aristotle The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching. Aristotle The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. Aristotle The secret to humor is surprise. Aristotle The soul never thinks without a picture. Aristotle The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival. Aristotle The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom. Aristotle The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently; but he is willing, in great crises, to give even his life - knowing that under certain conditions it is not worthwhile to live. Aristotle The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal. Aristotle There is no great genius without a mixture of madness. Aristotle There was never a genius without a tincture of madness. Aristotle Therefore, the good of man must be the end of the science of politics. Aristotle This is the reason why mothers are more devoted to their children than fathers: it is that they suffer more in giving them birth and are more certain that they are their own. Aristotle Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well. Aristotle Those who excel in virtue have the best right of all to rebel, but then they are of all men the least inclined to do so. Aristotle Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last. Aristotle To run away from trouble is a form of cowardice and, while it is true that the suicide braves death, he does it not for some noble object but to escape some ill. Aristotle To the query, ''What is a friend?'' his reply was ''A single soul dwelling in two bodies.'' Aristotle Tragedy is thus a representation of an action that is worth serious attention, complete in itself and of some amplitude... by means of pity and fear bringing about the purgation of such emotions. Aristotle We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. Aristotle We become just by performing just action, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave action. Aristotle We make war that we may live in peace. Aristotle We must no more ask whether the soul and body are one than ask whether the wax and the figure impressed on it are one. Aristotle 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. Aristotle Well begun is half done. Aristotle What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. Aristotle What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do. Aristotle 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. Aristotle Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit. Aristotle Wit is educated insolence. Aristotle Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods. Aristotle You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor. Aristotle Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope. Aristotle