What Aristotle thinks about government
Greek philosopher (384 to 322 BCE); studied in Plato's Academy until 347 BCE; founded the Lyceum in Athens in 335 BCE.
Aristotle did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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6 dated positions, c. 367–322 BCE, in their own words. Our reading of what Aristotle has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Their wordsThat a city then precedes an individual is plain, for if an individual is not in himself sufficient to compose a perfect government, he is to a city as other parts are to a whole; but he that is incapable of society, or so complete in himself as not to want it, makes no part of a city, as a beast or a god.
↗Politics: A Treatise on Government (William Ellis translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Our readingWithout being raised under right laws, it is hard to get a right training for virtue from youth
Their wordsBut it is difficult to get from youth up a right training for virtue if one has not been brought up under right laws; for to live temperately and hardily is not pleasant to most people, especially when they are young.
↗Nicomachean Ethics, Book Ten (tr. W. D. Ross, 1925)en.wikisource.org All 3 from this book
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Their wordsThere is nothing that more characterises a complete citizen than having a share in the judicial and executive part of the government.
↗Politics: A Treatise on Government (William Ellis translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Our readingTyranny, oligarchy and democracy serve one man, the rich or the poor, not the common good
Their wordsNow a tyranny is a monarchy where the good of one man only is the object of government, an oligarchy considers only the rich, and a democracy only the poor; but neither of them have a common good in view.
↗Politics: A Treatise on Government (William Ellis translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsBut to establish a government entirely upon either of these equalities is wrong, and this the example of those so established makes evident, for none of them have been stable; and for this reason, that it is impossible that whatever is wrong at the first and in its principles should not at last meet with a bad end: for which reason in some things an equality of numbers ought to take place, in others an equality in value.
↗Politics: A Treatise on Government (William Ellis translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Our readingA city should be as large as self-sufficiency needs but small enough for its rulers to oversee
Their wordsIt is evident, then, that the best boundary for a city is that wherein the numbers are the greatest possible, that they may be the better able to be sufficient in themselves, while at the same time they are not too large to be under the eye and government of the magistrates.
↗Politics: A Treatise on Government (William Ellis translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book