Aristotle

“A democracy is a government in the hands of men of low birth, no property, and unskilled labor.”

“A friend is a second self.”

“Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of.”

“All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire.”

“All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.”

“All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.”

“Anyone can become angry--that is easy.  But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way--that is not easy.”

“Democracy arose from men's thinking that if they are equal in any respect, they are equal absolutely.”

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

“Education is the best provision for the journey to old age.”

“Hope is a waking dream.”

“How many a dispute could have been deflated into a single paragraph if the disputants had dared to define their terms.”

“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.”

“I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who overcomes his enemies.” (In Stobaeus, Florilegium)

“If happiness is activity in accordance with excellence, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest excellence.”

“It is in justice that the ordering of society is centered.”

“It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen.” (Nicomachean Ethics, 325 BC)

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

“It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.”

“Law is mind without reason.”

“Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.” (Eudemian Ethics)

“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.”

“Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.”

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

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

“The generality of men are naturally apt to be swayed by fear rather than reverence, and to refrain from evil rather because of the punishment that it brings than because of its own foulness.”

“The moral virtues, then, are produced in us neither by nature nor against nature.  Nature, indeed, prepares us the ground for their reception, but their complete formation is the product of habit.”

“The only stable state is one in which all men are equal before the law.”

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

“The whole is more than the sum of its parts.”

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

“They [Young People] have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations; moreover, their hopeful disposition makes them think themselves equal to great things--and that means having exalted notions.  They would always rather do noble deeds than useful ones:  Their lives are regulated more by moral feeling than by reasoning--all their mistakes are in the direction of doing things excessively and vehemently.  They overdo everything--they love too much, hate too much, and the same with everything else.”

“To perceive is to suffer.”

“We are what we repeatedly do.”

“What is a friend?  A single soul dwelling in two bodies?”

“Wit is educated insolence.”