8 ms·
Aristotle quotes on virtue, knowledge, and happiness
- andsoitis 2mo ago“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
- pmdulaney 2mo agoFrom Aristotle? Along the same lines: "Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence." -- Robert Frost
- notorandit 2mo agoMaybe, yes "maybe" Robert got inspiration from a guy who lived two thousands years earlier.
- john_strinlai 2mo ago>From Aristotle? apparently not, actually: "The earliest that this quotation appears in print is in Religion and the Pursuit of Truth (1959) by Lowell Bennion." or "First attributed to Aristotle in Lowell L. Bennion, Religion and the Pursuit of Truth (1959). Unfound as such. Sometimes thought (though I feel it's a bit of a stretch) a misinterpretation of Nicomachean Ethics 1.3.4 (1094b): "For it is the mark of an educated person to search for the same kind of clarity in each topic to the extent that the nature of the matter accepts it.""
- bwfan123 2mo ago> entertain a thought without accepting it Entertaining an idea is understanding it. And, there is some research to show that understanding an idea is believing it. Hence, understanding an idea and not believing it is very effortful. [1] https://bear.warrington.ufl.edu/brenner/mar7588/Papers/gilbert-ampsy1991.pdf https://bear.warrington.ufl.edu/brenner/mar7588/Papers/gilbe...
- wahern 2mo ago> The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. -- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up[1], Esquire, February 1936 [1] https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a4310/the-crack-up https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a4310/the-crack-up (https://web.archive.org/web/20250328074803/https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a4310/the-crack-up/ https://web.archive.org/web/20250328074803/https://www.esqui...)
- magicmicah85 2mo agoI see this quote a lot and can never find it in original sources for Aristotle. It seems to be a misattribution from the foreword of Religion and the Pursuit of Truth by Lowell L Bennion https://archive.org/details/religionpursuito0000lowe/page/n5/mode/2up?q=%22mark+of+an+educated%22 https://archive.org/details/religionpursuito0000lowe/page/n5...
- andsoitis 2mo agoWho cares? The idea is pretty powerful.
- geye1234 2mo agoThe level of precision a subject can reach is peculiar to that subject, but it doesn't follow that nothing can be accurately predicated of it: "It is characteristic of such knowledge [ethics] that it should be deficient in “exactness,” in precision of statement, and closeness of logical concatenation. We must not look for a mathematics of conduct. The subject-matter of Human Conduct is not governed by necessary and uniform laws. But this does not mean that it is subject to no laws." "[T]he man of education will seek exactness so far in each subject as the nature of the thing admits, it being plainly much the same absurdity to put up with a mathematician who tries to persuade instead of proving, and to demand strict demonstrative reasoning of a Rhetorician." https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8438/8438-h/8438-h.htm https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8438/8438-h/8438-h.htm
- notorandit 2mo agoIf you ever wondered, those are among the things that made that single person standing out of the crowd od Humanity for more than two thousands years.<3
- potentdream 2mo agoNice!
- technics256 2mo agoThe first quote is not even a quote from Aristotle but from Will Durant’s book, The Story of Philosophy (1926)
- krapp 2mo ago"Don't believe everything you read on the internet" -- Sun Tzu
- stronglikedan 2mo agoI thought that was Descartes
- johnsmith1840 2mo agoPretty low effort article I like the quotes but yeah. My favorite part is the useless comment bellow each quote like: "The commenter above has stated that the quote is not from aristotle, this is important for the article"
- andsoitis 2mo agoThe saying is a paraphrase of Aristotle's ideas on virtue. Technically the words are that of Durant but the core idea is Aristotle.
- whjte 2mo agoit do be like that
- ignoramous 2mo agoThe aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain. Reminds me of Charlie Munger's Inversion principle that he borrowed from German mathematician Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi's man muss immer umkehren. https://fs.blog/inversion/ https://fs.blog/inversion/ We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. As counter points, read Cedirc Chin's Problems with deliberate practice, https://commoncog.com/the-problems-with-deliberate-practice/ https://commoncog.com/the-problems-with-deliberate-practice/ and Sensemaking as the heart of expertise, https://commoncog.com/sensemaking-heart-of-expertise/ https://commoncog.com/sensemaking-heart-of-expertise/ It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. This Amjad Masad comment lives rent-free in my head: "Tolerating some amount of cognitive dissonance is one of the best things that I was able to develop in myself ... people don't update their beliefs when new evidence comes to light ... The drive to avoid cognitive dissonance shackles you to your existing beliefs (see confirmation bias)". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11799477 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11799477 (2016). cf. Why people that are often right change their minds often, https://fs.blog/some-advice-from-jeff-bezos/ https://fs.blog/some-advice-from-jeff-bezos/
- pinnate 2mo agoMuch of this is either simply not Aristotle, or a paraphrase from one of his works incorrectly attributed to another. My slop meter is pinging. Edit: Between the misattributions, fabricated quotes, listicle format, thin explanatory paragraphs, and use of “delve” (posted Nov 2024 - during ChatGPT’s Delve Era), this is a pretty embarrassing thing for a Liberal Arts college to post.
- groundzeros2015 2mo agoIt’s also embarrassing to see a philosopher summarized in quotes or sayings when their real thesis is probably the opposite of what the snippet suggests, Philosophy is not about clever observations! They are developing systems and arguments you have to actually read to understand.
- yunnpp 2mo agoThanks for delving, I hadn't picked up on the misattributions. But I'm looking to read some of those books now given the comments here.
- al_be_back 2mo ago> 2. "Happiness depends upon ourselves." he's quiet possibly referring to happiness as a relationship (with family, friends, colleagues, citizens etc) rather than just by oneself / isolation / individual. he famously said "man by nature is a political animal" (or social if you prefer)
- sdellis 2mo agoSocial and political are very different, unless you are overly concerned with accumulating power within your social relationships.
- skinfaxi 2mo agoI would submit that all social relationships have power dynamics. Politics is about allocation of resources more than power accumulation. You may be conflating the two because more power allows you to allocate resources with less intereference.
- al_be_back 2mo agoof course they are. his original quote says 'political' but often translations or quotes may say 'social' (informally).
- foolswisdom 2mo agoIn the original its meaning is being part of a greater unit.
- graboy 2mo agoIt's more social, the translation of political is coming from polis; man is by nature meant to be part of a city or community.
- yoyohello13 2mo agoI expect it’s more similar to the Buddhist idea that happiness is cultivated in your own mind. It’s driven internally rather than externally.
- great_wubwub 2mo ago“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle never said this. It's Will Durant. https://medium.com/the-mission/my-favourite-quote-of-all-time-is-a-misattribution-66356f22843d https://medium.com/the-mission/my-favourite-quote-of-all-tim... https://old.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/s2n3s/source_for_an_alleged_aristotle_quote/ https://old.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/s2n3s/source... This invalidates the post for me, it takes it from academic research to fanboy posting.
- ceroxylon 2mo agoFunnily enough, people attributing "smart sounding" quotes to Aristotle has been a headache for historians for as long as Aristotle's writing has been around. The more things change...
- andsoitis 2mo agoThe saying is a paraphrase of Aristotle's ideas on virtue. Technically the words are that of Durant but the core idea is Aristotle.
- BusterBladeZX 2mo agohttps://www.backstory.today/b/y2v04s https://www.backstory.today/b/y2v04s
- deepfriedbits 2mo ago> "Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies." What a cool way to convey the benefits of having strong friendships.
- RGS1811 2mo agoActually reading Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics is worth it. Not because he's right about everything (he has some pretty messed up and weird views), but because it's challenging and good to think on, and chances are you'll take something away for yourself that you wouldn't have gotten from some webpage that took one-liners out of context, some of which aren't even by Aristotle.
- acephal 2mo agoIt’s weird and messed up because Aristotle’s audience isn’t Christian or even Abrahamic the slightest. He’s right about rejecting abstract definitions that aren’t grounded in the elements of a situation however.
- lo_zamoyski 2mo agoI have no idea what you're trying to say here. Those two sentences seem disconnected. One very common error people make is to believe that ethics - at least epistemically and for the most part - is sectarian. This view seems to stem from an ultimately nihilistic presupposition that morality is a fiction supplied by the fiction of religion. But that is not the natural law view and thus a view alien to both Aristotle and to Christianity. The natural law view is that human beings have a nature, which is most centrally to be a rational animal with the freedom to choose between alternatives apprehended by the intellect. Thus, Man has moral responsibility, because he plays a part in choosing what he does. Accordingly, because human nature defines what is good or bad for human beings (that which actualizes human potential in accord with reason vs. that which frustrates or opposes reason and the actualization of potential in accord with it), we bear responsibility for how we exercise our powers. Aristotle wasn't completely, but the core principles in the Metaphysics or his ethical works or in epistemology are - in my view - spot on. What Christianity does or claims to do is supplement what is knowable by unaided reason with revealed knowledge - the object of faith - which, of course, does have ethical import, but it does not negate or supplant what is knowable by unaided reason. FWIW, Aquinas drew heavily from Aristotle and had such enormous respect for Aristotle, he referred to him as simply "the Philosopher".
- ErystelaThevale 2mo ago[dead]
- kashyapc 2mo agoFWIW, I got a lot more about virtue ethics from reading Plato's works, the Stoics, and Cicero. Aristotle is somewhat dry and tedious to read. Go for him if you're into formal logic and related technical systems. But if you're truly interested in virtue ethics and have some reading discipline, try Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. On Marcus Aurelius: he's often recommended mindlessly (especially in tech circles). I actually to suggest to read him last. He does have valuable things to say, but he's the most depressive of the Big Three Stoics. You can better appreciate Aurelius if you've already digested some Socratic dialogues and Epictetus. One of the top-most Stoicism scholars (A. A. Long) describes Marcus Aurelius this way: "a melancholy emperor, who was hardly a card-carrying Stoic". FWIW, here's[1] my recommended reading order and top English translations from five years ago. Cut out the cheap rehashes by people such as Ryan Holiday and stick to the originals. A bonus note[2] on the Roman gem, Cicero, from six years ago. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22990579 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22990579 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24638573 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24638573
- RGS1811 2mo agoPlato is delightfully weird and engaging and way more fun to read than Aristotle, agreed.
- kashyapc 2mo agoYeah, I think Plato's dialogues are unparalleled. I love the rigour, drama, and how they don't end with a clear conclusion ("aporia"), forcing you to find your own.
- DiscourseFan 2mo agoWell Aristotle's attempt to find a demonstrative science (or what we would refer to as science today) also led him to an aporia between universal categories and individual substance. It's just that Aristotle's aporia cannot be understood in Platonic terms.
- ColdStream 2mo ago
- deleted 2mo ago[deleted]
- Razengan 2mo agoYou know I always found it odd/unfair how religions were founded around Jesus, Muhammed etc but not for Aristotle, Socrates etc.
- andsoitis 2mo agoThe Greek philosophers were more wise, humble, and didn’t think they’re deities.
- lo_zamoyski 2mo agoIt's a category mistake. People try to naturalize Jesus as a "great teacher", but the one thing you cannot do is frame Jesus as another wise man and good teacher! The man claimed to be God. Anyone who makes a claim like is either insane, a liar, or, in fact, God. "Greater teacher, full stop" is simply not an option. Which is to say that the founding of the Church by Jesus is not rooted in some wise teachings, but in claims about his identity. If his claim of Godhood is false, then the Church and the Christian faith are total charlatanism.
- andsoitis 2mo ago[dead]
- another_poster 2mo agoThere actually were religions founded around the philosophers. The mathematikoi were a cult of followers of Pythagoras that believed everything was Number, and they believed they could purify their souls by learning theorems. And the Neoplatonists founded a religious school based on the works of Plato (with significant elaboration by Plotinus). Christianity ultimately incorporated many Neoplatonic beliefs, along with Stoic beliefs that stemmed from Heraclitus, who argued everything was Logos, which has one translation as Word, which is an opening statement in the Bible’s book of John. Aristotle’s works also went on to have a transformative impact on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam through Maimonides, Aquinas, and Averroes, who all interpreted his works. I agree it’s still interesting that major religions were not founded at the time of the early philosophers — maybe it’s because religion as we conceive of it today depends on a type of bureaucracy that wasn’t achievable in the classical era?
- f13f1f1f1 2mo agobro just read the book Aristotle did not run a twitter account
- dr_dshiv 2mo agoDaoist conceptions of virtue can be described as “cosmic spontaneity” https://sourcelibrary.org/book/chuang-tzu-mystic-moralist-and-social-reformer-giles/page/6993569a83378b7aed7ce70d https://sourcelibrary.org/book/chuang-tzu-mystic-moralist-an...
- steve_adams_86 2mo ago> 11. “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” That's a poor way of framing his beliefs about this. The correct framing is more like “Virtue and being a Good Human Being is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” Happiness should stem from being a good human being; happiness itself is not the origin of virtue or purpose. If personal sacrifice brings genuine well-being to your family or community, that could be a very virtuous and rewarding thing to do, and as such, should make you content and satisfied with your actions and their outcomes. That's how you find eudaemonia; that state of 'happiness' he's describing. While you haven't sought out your immediate personal happiness or gratification, you can still feel good in a morally derivative, intellectual manner (which could also make you genuinely happy or content, too). The bible is big on this theme, as well. Humans are political animals to Aristotle, and our prosociality and duty to others was crucial to how we measured ourselves and our obligations to society. Personal happiness in a contemporary, conventional sense wasn't very important in that scope. Our ability to be satisfied with, and take gratification from, our service to others was a major part of how you'd derive that contentedness and eudaimonic state of mind. It seems important to make that distinction, because most people's interpretation of that quote (I don't think it's an actual quote) would be relatively hedonic or epicurean. Everything you do should be in the pursuit of feeling good.
- pdonis 2mo agoIt's unfortunate that the Greek word eudamonia, which is the one Aristotle used, gets translated into English as "happiness", which is open to so many misunderstandings, particularly in our current culture. There isn't really a single English word that means "being a good human being". "Virtue" or "virtuousness" might once have served, but I think its connotations have shifted in a way that makes it no longer suitable for expressing the concept that Aristotle had in mind.
- steve_adams_86 2mo agoI’ve wondered at times if this is partially due to cultural changes. We’re less interested in prosocial traits and how we fit into social hierarchies/personal duties and more interested in personal happiness or gratification. I’m not sure. It appears this way from what I read, but it’s hard to know having not been alive 2000 years ago.
- sealthedeal 2mo agoMy Philosophy 101 in college was Nichomean Ethics, and I think to this day was one of the most important classes I ever took.
- tmtvl 2mo agoRoughly translating something my grandfather once said: 'a quote is not something to be parroted, but to be pondered'. Unfortunately all the provided quotes are in English, so they're unlikely to actually be things Aristotle wrote or said; rather they're translations which may have different nuances or meanings. That doesn't mean they're not worth pondering, though (or parroting, if they are worthy of it and applicable to a situation).
- ColdStream 2mo agoPretty much. I have a list of little sayings I have pondered over the years. I started it in 2020 thinking I might end up a few dozen, it is now well over 600. They are things to think over and not just accept blindly. It stemmed from the idea from Buddhism that 'a thousand words mean nothing compared to a single word that brings peace'. Some of the most profound and useful sayings I have come across have been just single lined things. That doesn't mean that it is the only way to communicate, not even close, just that they have a very useful place but only in context. As for the translations, I recommend people look at multiple translations of ancient texts to see how they vary wildly. The Tao Te Ching is a great example because of how many options you have available. Some are poetic, others are fairly blunt. Others just completely miss the point. It is fun to see.
- tsoukase 2mo agoAristotle is very good, but Plato is perfect. Some random quotes: Only the dead have seen the end of war We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something. If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things.
- kaon_2 2mo agoI giggled when reading "Educating the mind without the heart is no education at all". Hehe that must have failed when he taught Alexander the "Great" who would start wars, raze cities and murder whole populations. Or maybe Aristotle only realized this afterwards.
- heinwintoe 2mo agoSomehow, number 9 is right after number 6.
- ironqcold 2mo agoQuote lists are kinda hit or miss. Half the time