Quotes about men
men two want
The avarice of mankind is insatiable; at one time two obols was pay enough; but now, when this sum has become customary, men always want more and more without end. Aristotle
men form evident
Now it is evident that the form of government is best in which every man, whoever he is, can act best and live happily.
men principles proportion
The only stable principle of government is equality according to proportion, and for every man to enjoy his own.
men sprung-up justice
In the many forms of government which have sprung up there has always been an acknowledgement of justice and proportionate equality, although mankind fail in attaining them, as indeed I have already explained. 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.
men perfect good-man
In the perfect state the good man is absolutely the same as the good citizen; whereas in other states the good citizen is only good relatively to his own form of government.
men perfect good-man
If the state cannot be entirely composed of good men, and yet each citizen is expected to do his own business well, and must therefore have virtue, still inasmuch as all the citizens cannot be alike, the virtue of the citizen and of the good man cannot coincide. All must have the virtue of the good citizen - thus, and thus only, can the state be perfect; but they will not have the virtue of a good man, unless we assume that in the good state all the citizens must be good.
men good-man use
The good man is he for whom, because he is virtuous, the things that are absolutely good are good; it is also plain that his use of these goods must be virtuous and in the absolute sense good.
men two soul
If a man of good natural disposition acquires Intelligence [as a whole], then he excels in conduct, and the disposition which previously only resembled Virtue, will now be Virtue in the true sense. Hence just as with the faculty of forming opinions [the calculative faculty] there are two qualities, Cleverness and Prudence, so also in the moral part of the soul there are two qualities, natural virtue and true Virtue; and true Virtue cannot exist without Prudence.
men honor deeds
Now the greatest external good we should assume to be the thing which we offer as a tribute to the gods, and which is most coveted by men of high station, and is the prize awarded for the noblest deeds; and such a thing is honor, for honor is clearly the greatest of external goods.
men excellence good-man
Excellence or virtue in a man will be the disposition which renders him a good man and also which will cause him to perform his function well.
men good-man delight
Indeed, we may go further and assert that anyone who does not delight in fine actions is not even a good man.
men rely-upon people
In the first place, then, men should guard against the beginning of change, and in the second place they should not rely upon the political devices of which I have already spoken invented only to deceive the people, for they are proved by experience to be useless.
men able constitution
Any change of government which has to be introduced should be one which men, starting from their existing constitutions, will be both willing and able to adopt, since there is quite as much trouble in the reformation of an old constitution as in the establishment of a new one, just as to unlearn is as hard as to learn.
men progress complaining
Property should be in a certain sense common, but, as a general rule, private; for, when every one has a distinct interest, men will not complain of one another, and they will make more progress, because every one will be attending to his own business.
men together complaining
If they do not share equally enjoyments and toils, those who labor much and get little will necessarily complain of those who labor little and receive or consume much. But indeed there is always a difficulty in men living together and having all human relations in common, but especially in their having common property.
men soul what-is-happiness
But what is happiness? If we consider what the function of man is, we find that happiness is a virtuous activity of the soul.
men mind littles
A man can make up his mind quickly when he has only a little to make up.
men tyrants needs
No tyrant need fear till men begin to feel confident in each other.
men hands mind
Man is the metre of all things, the hand is the instrument of instruments, and the mind is the form of forms.
men bravery brave-man
A brave man is clear in his discourse, and keeps close to truth.
men beast harm
A bad man can do a million times more harm than a beast.
men views watches
Tools may be animate as well as inanimate; for instance, a ship's captain uses a lifeless rudder, but a living man for watch; for a servant is, from the point of view of his craft, categorized as one of its tools. So any piece of property can be regarded as a tool enabling a man to live, and his property is an assemblage of such tools; a slave is a sort of living piece of property; and like any other servant is a tool in charge of other tools.
men use politics
Property should be in a general sense common, but as a general rule private... In well-ordered states, although every man has his own property, some things he will place at the disposal of his friends, while of others he shares the use of them.
men good-man needs
The good citizen need not of necessity possess the virtue which makes a good man.
men views hands
Legislative enactments proceed from men carrying their views a long time back; while judicial decisions are made off hand.
men way logic
Rhetoric is the counterpart of logic; since both are conversant with subjects of such a nature as it is the business of all to have a certain knowledge of, and which belong to no distinct science. Wherefore all men in some way participate of both; since all, to a certain extent, attempt, as well to sift, as to maintain an argument; as well to defend themselves, as to impeach.
men thinking doctors
It is well said, then, that it is by doing just acts that the just man is produced, and by doing temperate acts the temperate man; without doing these no one would have even a prospect of becoming good. But most people do not do these, but take refuge in theory and think they are being philosophers and will become good in this way, behaving somewhat like patients who listen attentively to their doctors, but do none of the things they are ordered to do.
men soul lovers
For pleasure is a state of soul, and to each man that which he is said to be a lover of is pleasant.
men way nicomachean-ethics
Men are good in but one way, but bad in many.
men brave coward
The brave man, if he be compared with the coward, seems foolhardy; and, if with the foolhardy man, seems a coward.
men evil unjust
And it is characteristic of man that he alone has any sense of good and evil, of just and unjust, and the like, and the association of living beings who have this sense makes family and a state.
men action
A man is the origin of his action.
men office want
Nowadays, for the sake of the advantage which is to be gained from the public revenues and from office, men want to be always in office.