“Natural things are exactly those things which do move continuously, in virtue of the principle inherent in themselves, towards a determined goal; and the final development which results from any one such principle is not identical for any two species, nor yet is it any random result but in each there is always a tendency towards an identical result if nothing interferes.”

A depiction of the Aristotelian universe, the general model of four elements and a teleology-based movement scheme.

“For any two portions of fire, small or great, will exhibit the same ratio of solid to void; but the upward movement of the greater is quicker than that of the less, just as the downward movement of a mass of gold or lead, or any other body endowed with weight, is quicker in proportion to its size.”

“A natural scientist must have the same kind of understanding of place as he does of infinity—that is, he should know whether or not it exists, in what sense it exists, and what it is—because the idea that existing things exist somewhere is universally accepted. I mean, that which does not exist is nowhere. Where, for example is a goat-stag or sphinx? Also, the most common and most fundamental kind of change is change of place, which is known as movement.”

Left: The Egyptian anthropomorhic Ennead cosmology model (2400BC). Right: Aristotle's 55-sphere Geocentric (Geb-centric) model (322BC).

“It is a joining together of the sky [Nut] and earth [Geb] and of the elements [four elements] contained there in.”

“Of the two sorts of money-making, one is a part of household management, the other retail trade, the former necessary and honorable, the latter a kind of exchange which is justly censured, for it is unnatural, and a mode by which men gain from one another. The most hated sort, and with the greatest reason, is usury, which makes a gain out of money itself, and not from the natural use of it. For money was intended to be used in exchange, but not to increase at interest. And this term usury, which means the birth of money from money, is applied to the breeding of money because the offspring resembles the parent. Wherefore of all modes of making money, that is the most unnatural.”

See main: Aristotle on the soul

“Happiness is the settling of the soul in its most appropriate spot.”

“Aristotle is regarded as the most eminent of philosophers.”

— Otto Guericke (1672), The System of the World: According to the More Common Philosophical Theories [16]

“Aristotle, the greatest philosopher of his time, who was named the ‘genius of nature’ because of his great mind, when he was accused of having bad opinions of the gods, was forced to retire to the Chalcis where he died at the age of sixty-six.”

— Jean Meslier (1729), The Testament (pg. 343)

“Aristotle was the great thinker who was the first to analyze so many forms, whether of thought, society or nature.”

— Karl Marx (1867), Capital: a Critique of Political Economy [14]

“Nothing natural occurs by chance.”

— Aristotle (c.350BC), De Caelo (300b8-301a11) [22]

“Plato is my friend, but truth my greater friend.”

— Aristotle (c.322 BC), Publication; quote was inscribed into Isaac Newton's age 19 written notebook Philosophical Questions a set of forty-five queries into a foundation for a new philosophy.

“The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.”

— Aristotle (c.322 BC), Publication; compare Pareto: “The assertion that men are objectively equal is so absurd that it does not even merit being refuted.” [19]

“All men by desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves; and above all others the sense of sight. For not only with a view to action, but even when we are not going to do anything, we prefer seeing, one might say, to everything else. The reason is that this, most of all the senses, makes us know and brings to light many differences between things.”

— Aristotle (c.320), Metaphysics; cited by Lawrence Henderson (1932) [20]

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”

— Aristotle (c.330BC) (Ѻ)

“There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.”

— Aristotle (c.330BC) (Ѻ)

“At first, he who invented any ‘art’ that went beyond the common perceptions of man, was naturally admired by men, not only because there was something useful in the inventions, but because he was thought wise and superior to the rest. But as more arts were invented, and some were directed to the necessities of life, others to its recreation, the inventors of the latter were always regarded as wiser than the inventors of the former, because there branches of knowledge did not aim at utility. Hence, when all such inventions were already established, the sciences which do not aim at giving pleasure or at the necessities of life, were discovered, and first in the places where men first began to have leisure. This is why the ‘mathematical’ arts were founded in Egypt; for there the priestly caste was allowed to be at leisure.”

— Aristotle (c.350BC), Metaphysics; in Collected Works (pg. 1553)