Aristotle
384 BC – 322 BC
Aristotle (384–322 BCE), student of Plato and tutor of Alexander the Great, was the first systematic philosopher and scientist. He founded formal logic, classified living organisms, and developed theories of ethics, politics, rhetoric, and poetics that shaped Western thought for two millennia. His concept of eudaimonia — flourishing through virtuous action — remains central to contemporary discussions of the good life.
Key works: Nicomachean Ethics · Metaphysics · Politics · Poetics
Top quotes by Aristotle
“Without friends, no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.”
Read the full explanation →“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Read the full explanation →“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.”
Read the full explanation →“To give aid to an associate in trouble, though it be not a return for anything, is characteristic of a man cultivated in excellence.”
Read the full explanation →“Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.”
Read the full explanation →“The soul never thinks without a mental picture.”
Read the full explanation →“The soul is in a way all that it knows.”
Read the full explanation →“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
Read the full explanation →“He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.”
Read the full explanation →“The happy life is thought to be one of excellence in activity.”
Read the full explanation →
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