22 Timeless Life Lessons from Aristotle

At first glance, you might think to yourself, “what could someone who lived over 2,300 years ago possible teach me about life?” What if that man was a student of Plato, and the teacher of Alexander the Great? Aristotle is widely considered to be one of the smartest men to have ever lived, but his intelligence was not as importance as his wisdom. Yes, those are two separate things. Not all wise men are smart, and vie versa. Aristotle’s wisdom still rings true today, and I personally collected these quotes as a tribute to one of the WISEST men to ever have graced humanity.

1. “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
2. “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
3. “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”
4. “Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.”
5. “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.”
6. “To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”
7. “Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives – choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”
8. “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.”
9. “The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.”
10. “The young are permanently in a state resembling intoxication.”
11. “We become just by performing just action, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave action.”
12. “There is no great genius without a mixture of madness.”
13. “Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach.”
14. “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.”
15. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
16. “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.”
17. “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.”
18. “You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.”
19. “Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.”
20. “What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.”
21. “Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.”
22. “Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.”
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