Aristotle

If it be asked whether Tragedy is now all that it need be in its formative elements, to consider that, and decide it theoretically and in relation to the theatres, is a matter for another inquiry.

Courage, therefore, brings pain, and is justly praised; for it is harder to endure what is painful than to abstain from what is pleasant.

And the more he is endowed with every virtue, and the happier he is, the more grievous will death be to him; for life is more worth living to a man of his sort than to anyone else, and he deprives himself knowingly of the very best things; and it is painful to do that. But he is no less courageous because he feels this pain; nay, we may say he is even more courageous, because in spite of it he chooses noble conduct in battle in preference to those good things.

Aristotle says that children are not changed or acted upon when they begin to learn, but get straight into an active state when time or adults help them settle down out of their native condition of disorder and distraction

Responsible human action depends upon the combining of all the powers of the soul: perception, imagination, reasoning, and desiring

The work of achieving character is a process of clearing away the obstacles that stand in the way of the full efficacy of the soul. Someone who is partial to food or drink, or to running away from trouble, or to looking for trouble, is a partial human being.

Principles are wonderful things, but there are too many of them, and exclusive adherence to any one of them is always a vice

praises Plato for understanding that philosophy does not argue from first principles but toward them

Lasting and satisfying pleasure never comes to those who seek pleasure, but only to the philokalos, who looks past pleasure to the beautiful.

The experience of wonder brings thinking to a stop, but also lets it begin; similarly, the contemplation of things as they are stands apart from action, but also lets action find its aim. The true and the good stem from one source, and converge in the beautiful