Aristotle is known for his intellectual and emotional intelligence. He has been a great philosopher from ancient Greece. He ranks top among every other philosopher. His interest rate in science, arts, and philosophy brought much literature to the world. Plato has been a peer to Aristotle. People can notice a reflection of Plato in Aristotle’s words. Aristotle lived between 384-322 B.C.E. His philosophy has been a great lesson to the centuries and evolved as a resonance world. Aristotle is still an inspiration to many authors and an indirect mentor to the new era of philosophers. His lessons and achievements are large to be listed. But here, I have written a glimpse about him.
This article describes his quotes about humor, philosophy, and the lifestyle of the human that reflects the reality behind every action.
1. “Every rascal is not a thief, but every thief is a rascal.” – Aristotle
Rascal does unethical work and is involved in criminal activities. Though they commit crimes like rowdyism, murders, and so on, we cannot give assurance that each rascal would be a thief. But a thief commits only thefts and robbery who stole gold, money, and other highly valuable things without the owner’s concern for their self-benefits which is completely an illegal activity. Rascal is a generic term to call a person who is involved in Criminal activities, and the word ‘Thief’ refers to the person who steals valuable things from others.
So, here Aristotle states in a humorous way about this.
2. “There is no great genius without a mixture of madness.” – Aristotle
Every person has a child in their life. People say that we are dead if we kill the child within us. When we grow up, we think that we are getting mature and so we should not behave in such a way a child behaves and restrict ourselves to being real us. We can be anything in this world, but we can never kill a child inside us. That child is always curious, excited, and fun. That child could see only the beauty of nature. Even a genius without madness can be called a ‘Robot.’ Every one of us has the madness to try crazy stuff and make fun of it. In simple terms, if we can laugh, we are mad. Madness makes you stress-free, healthy, and happy. Sometimes madness leads to embarrassments and mishaps. But a human with a good state of mind would have madness with assurance.
3. “There is a foolish corner in the brain of the wisest man.” – Aristotle
Humans with knowledge, skills, and maturity seem to be the wisest, and people call them so. Wise people are the ones with good perception in judgment, good common sense, and knowledge. They handle the worst situation in the best way. But it does not mean they always act well. Humans are not a systematic program to express their emotions in a systematic way. Our controls are not programmed by any outsourced tool. Our brain decides who we can be. At one point, even the wisest man can behave foolishly.
4. “A friend to all is a friend to none.” – Aristotle
Throughout the different stages of life, we come across mid-school, high school, college, university, job places, and home locations. We meet friends, classmates, colleagues, neighbors, and even strangers at every place. We speak with them, get connected, and sometimes be together. But all those are companions for a time. But who is a real friend? I have seen many people stating that they have a big circle of friends. Friendship is also a kind of love. It can be only with one person. Here we must understand the difference between companionship and friendship. Friendship is an emotion and commitment. A real friend always comes for you. Being a friend to everyone you come across does not make you a real friend to everyone.
5. “A likely impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility” – Aristotle
Sometimes we convince ourselves that we can make the impossible possible. It can be a motivational factor as well. But Aristotle says that it is always better to analyze the situation and accept it. At times, the situation becomes worse for our loved ones or any known person, and they feel pressured and stressed, expecting things to fall into place, which is not possible. But, we try to console them with false promises and again fail in that which makes the situation worse than before. Every knowledgeable person can analyze the impossibilities yet is not brave enough to convey them to the people. Instead, convey the reality with moral support to overcome the unfavorable.
6 “All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire” – Aristotle
Humans act from the brain. Our brain orders the whole system to act and react. It is the ability of the brain, and that is called ‘Cognition.’ Aristotle clearly brings the statement that every human act according to various seven reasons. We act for a chance, for nature, for compulsions, for habits, reasons, passion, and for desire. Figure out next time when you act for something, and the reasons fall under any one of these. For instance, I bring myself as an example here. I am writing this article because of passion. Likewise, you have your own cause to act or react.
7. “All human beings, by nature, desire to know.” – Aristotle
Curiosity is the key to all the inventions of the world. If there is no curiosity, there will be no questions. If there are no questions, there will be no answers. Everything starts with curiosity. A child is curious to walk and speak, a participant is curious to win, a prisoner is curious to release, a bird is curious to fly, a scientist is curious to invent, and a human is curious to live. Curiosity runs through our blood. So here, the philosopher says that we have a desire to perceive everything we come across.
8. “At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice, he is the worst.” – Aristotle
In this beautiful world, sometimes the worst happens. Animals are known for their blood hunting, and humans are known for misbehaving. If we compare human beings with animals for their character and attitude, maybe we become noble, but still, we are animals. We become noble because of the constitution. If there is no constitution, then humans are worse than animals. Humans fear law and punishments, and so they are modest. If the humans are not sentenced to the constitution, they act on their own with such extreme madness that it affects each other’s lives.
9. “Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.” – Aristotle
People criticize when you try what they did not try. If people criticize you, it means you are trying something new, and you are working. Mostly, it happens when it ends up worst or faulty. It is an analytical report of the person on another person with prejudicial evaluation. You can get hurt by other criticism. If you always want to be praised by others, then you can be one among the herd of goats. It means you are not unique and not trying to be unique. Success and failure do not matter. What matters a lot is if you try your best or not. You can avoid criticism by doing nothing. When you do nothing, who is the content to judge you and criticize you?
10. “Character is that which reveals moral purpose, showing what kind of things a man chooses or avoids.” – Aristotle
Being a human does not define one’s humanity. Humanity is based on the character of the human. Everything in the world has pros and cons, good and bad. But it is up to a person who chooses the best that is good for everyone. We may be given more options to choose which benefits to our own selves. But a man with morality always goes with the option that benefits most. Character is the only thing that declares who we are, and that becomes the purpose of living.
11. “All human happiness or misery takes the form of action; the end for which we live is a certain kind of action.” – Aristotle
Humans are responsible for their happiness and sadness. Though we point to others or their actions for our happiness or sadness, it still connects us. Your participation in that result is huge, and you have to accept it. The real happiness and sadness start with you. You can never allow others to decide your happiness or sadness. Whatever the things may happen, whatever the world comments about it, whatever the worsen or good situation is, it is all up to how you take it into the mind and heart. In the end, we live for the actions we do. Everything connects to the point of action.
12. “Poetry utters universal truths, particular history statements.” – Aristotle
Poetry is an art that combines truth and history. Every poet is unique, and every poetry is unique. It is a form of language that is understandable to the person who wants to see the beauty of the war. Every line in the poetry has a huge meaning into it. It does not matter if the story behind the poem is beautiful or bloodshed, but the poet holds the way to express it in an artistic way. Every poem has a story that reveals the reality of the world and points to a statement of history. Reading a poem makes us understand life, love, emotions, tragedy, war, freedom, and much more. Poetry is not only the imagination; it is a truth in an imaginary way.