Politics: A Treatise on Government

“Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god. ””

— Aristotle

“Nature does nothing uselessly.””

— Aristotle

“It is of the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it.””

— Aristotle

“Man is by nature a political animal.””

— Aristotle

“For man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all; since armed injustice is the more dangerous, and he is equipped at birth with the arms of intelligence and with moral qualities which he may use for the worst ends. Wherefore, if he have not virtue, he is the most unholy and the most savage of animals, and the most full of lust and gluttony. But justice is the bond of men in states, and the administration of justice, which is the determination of what is just, is the principle of order in political society.””

— Aristotle

“They who love in excess also hate in excess.””

— Aristotle

“Yes the truth is that men's ambition and their desire to make money are among the most frequent causes of deliberate acts of injustice.””

— Aristotle

“the greater the number of owners, the less the respect for common property. People are much more careful of their personal possessions than of those owned communally; they exercise care over common property only in so far as they are personally affected.””

— Aristotle

“and poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.””

— Aristotle