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Aristotle quotes from Politics

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“he who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.” Aristotle, Politics

“Equality consists in the same treatment of similar persons, and no government can stand which is not founded upon justice.” Aristotle, Politics

“Every citizen, it is said, must have equality, and therefore in a democracy the poor have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme.” Aristotle, Politics

“Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered.” Aristotle, Politics

“Now it is evident that the form of government is best in which every man, whoever he is, can act best and live happily.” Aristotle, Politics

“A constitution is the arrangement of magistracies in a state, especially of the highest of all. The government is everywhere sovereign in the state, and the constitution is in fact the government.” Aristotle, Politics

“Our conclusion, then, is that political society exists for the sake of noble actions, and not of mere companionship.” Aristotle, Politics

“Hence in a constitutional government the fighting-men have the supreme power, and those who possess arms are the citizens.” Aristotle, Politics

“For if liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost.” Aristotle, Politics

“Democracy, for example, arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.” Aristotle, Politics

“Inferiors revolt in order that they may be equal, and equals that they may be superior. Such is the state of mind which creates revolutions.” Aristotle, Politics

“He who is a citizen in a democracy will often not be a citizen in an oligarchy.” Aristotle, Politics

“It is not easy to determine the nature of music, or why any one should have a knowledge of it.” Aristotle, Politics

“But we must remember that good laws, if they are not obeyed, do not constitute good government.” Aristotle, Politics

“Again, the many are more incorruptible than the few; they are like the greater quantity of water which is less easily corrupted than a little.” Aristotle, Politics

“Whereas the law is passionless, passion must ever sway the heart of man.” Aristotle, Politics

“Now if nature makes nothing incomplete, and nothing in vain, the inference must be that she has made all animals for the sake of man.” Aristotle, Politics

“Hence it is evident that the good citizen need not of necessity possess the virtue which makes a good man.” Aristotle, Politics

“It is clearly better that property should be private, but the use of it common; and the special business of the legislator is to create in men this benevolent disposition.” Aristotle, Politics

“In revolutions the occasions may be trifling, but great interests are at stake.” Aristotle, Politics

“Again, men in general desire the good, and not merely what their fathers had.” Aristotle, Politics

“As in other departments of science, so in politics, the compound should always be resolved into the simple elements or least parts of the whole.” Aristotle, Politics

“poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.” Aristotle, Politics

Related topics

revolution tragedy poverty leadership passion government equality democracy citizenship law freedom power politics respect virtue good authority happiness justice knowledge

Related sources

Politics (23)
Nicomachean Ethics (1)
Poetics (2)