I have gained this by philosophy ... I do without being ordered what some are constrained to do by their fear of the law.
— AristotleThe Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
Use itGS4 on internalised ethics; doing right without fear of law.
Thinker · 18 quotes
Aristotle quotes for UPSC
18 sourced quotes by Aristotle on character & virtue, relationships & friendship, ethics & morality, integrity & honesty, education & knowledge, with a use case for each in GS4, Essay and interviews.
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Every art, and every system, and in like manner every action and purpose aims, it is thought, at some good; for which reason a common and by no means a bad description of the good is, ‘that at which all things aim.’ (Bk I, Ch I)
— AristotleThe Ethics Of Aristotle (Vol. I)
Use itGS4 on teleological ethics; every action aims at some good.
Liars ... when they speak the truth they are not believed.
— AristotleThe Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
Use itGS4 on credibility; liars lose trust even when truthful.
While both are dear, Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.
— AristotleBook I chapter 6, 1096a.16
Use itGS4 on conflicts of loyalty; truth above friendship.
Therefore only an utterly senseless person can fail to know that our characters are the result of our conduct.
Use itGS4: character is shaped by repeated conduct.
The truly good and wise man will bear all kinds of fortune in a seemly way, and will always act in the noblest manner that the circumstances allow.
Use itGS4/Life: a wise person handles good and bad fortune with dignity.
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.
Use itGS4 on golden mean; virtue lies between excess and deficiency.
What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.
Use itGS4 on moral responsibility; if we can act, we can refrain.
For legislators make the citizens good by forming habits in them, and this is the wish of every legislator, and those who do not effect it miss their mark, and it is in this that a good constitution differs from a bad one.
Use itGS2 on behavioural governance; good laws build civic habits.
The roots of education ... are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
— AristotleThe Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
Use itLife/Essay: learning is hard at first but rewarding.
For the things we have to learn before we can do, we learn by doing.
— AristotleBook II, 1103a.33: Cited in: Oxford Dictionary of Scientific Quotations (2005), 21:9
Use itEssay on experiential and vocational learning; we learn by doing.
Nature makes nothing in vain.
Use itEssay on ecology; every part of nature has a purpose.
And happiness is thought to depend on leisure; for we are busy that we may have leisure, and make war that we may live in peace.
Use itEssay on war and peace; war's only justification is peace.
The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.
— AristotleI.5. 271b8-10. This line begins the Prologue of Mortimer J. Adler’s book, Ten Philosophical Mistakes
Use itEssay/GS4: small early errors magnify; get foundations right.
The life of money-making is one undertaken under compulsion, and wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else.
Use itEssay on wealth; money is a means, not the ultimate good.
A friend is one soul abiding in two bodies.
— Aristotlep. 188; also reported in various sources as: Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies. A true friend is one soul in two bodies. Lo
Use itLife: describe true friendship as one soul in two bodies.
Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.
Use itLife: hard times reveal true friends.
When people are friends, they have no need of justice, but when they are just, they need friendship in addition.
— AristotleBook VIII, 1155a.26
Use itEssay on fraternity; friendship goes beyond justice in binding society.