Philosophy is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language.
I believe philosophy is an important part of the human experience. Asking what, why and how, are crucial to learning more about life, society and yourself.
As I have gotten more and more into philosophy, I have to appreciate Aristotle and his knowledge. He was very ahead of his time, and his curiosity inspires me a great deal. Below are my favorite quotes from Aristotle because they resonate with me.
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
I agree with this whole heartedly. I truly believe once you know yourself, everything will start to become more clear to you. It’s not easy to find yourself, especially in today’s world when you have access to millions of people’s opinions at your fingertips. But, if you do the work to look inside yourself and find out who you truly are, what you truly like and what you truly want, life will become more fulfilling and meaningful. After I took the time to do these things, I have learned so much about people, love, loss, health, etc. My goals and aspirations became clearer to me. I became more aware of my own personal views and values. All of that is wisdom.
“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.”
This quote really hits home for me because I (as we all) have had some pretty dark moments, especially lately. This quote let’s me know that 1. It’s completely normal to go through bad times. It’s apart of life. And 2. Dark times do not last forever. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and the more we focus on that, the faster it will come. There will be bad days and there will be good days. We will all experience both. We cannot let the darkness overpower our light. It may take some time, and it may be slow progress, but progress is still progress and eventually the good times will arrive.
“It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace.”
This can be interpreted in different ways. I interpret it as saying when the war is over, there needs to be peace, or else, nothing has been resolved. This can be in the literal sense. For example, after WWI, tensions were still high and thus WWII sadly happened. And today there’s still constant fighting because there is no world peace. Or, this can be an example in day to day life scenarios. You may have a fight with your significant other, and you won the argument, but there is still resentment between the two of you that won’t go away unless it is completely resolved and both sides organize peace. Peace is the solution.
“The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend.”
I love this quote because I interpret it as him saying don’t focus on the people that don’t like you or treat you poorly. That is not your problem, and you don’t need to waste your time and energy on them. Direct your focus to the people that love and appreciate you. A good relationship with a friend is more significant than any failed relationship, or someone hating on you for whatever reason. And, a friend can make you feel better and make you feel special. They’re someone you can count on. They bring out the best in you.
“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.”
Obviously, nobody and nothing is perfect. But, if you enjoy your job and feel as if you are contributing to a greater good, you are automatically going to perform better and feel more satisfied. That’s how we work as human beings. When we enjoy something, we try harder at it. When we don’t enjoy something, we do the bare minimum or we find no pleasure in doing it. In today’s society, I think this is an extra important quote. Don’t let your job make you miserable. We weren’t put on this earth to be unhappy every day of our lives.
My favorite Socrates quotes:
“If you don’t get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don’t want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can’t hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is law and no amount of pretending will alter that reality.”
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”
I believe his quotes truly speak for themselves. It is amazing to me how relevant they still are in the year 2022 considering he said/wrote these sayings in the BC period. That is a testament to how important philosophy is. It stands the test of time. Human beings have been searching for answers to similar questions since the beginning.
There are also many underrated female philosophers:
“Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.”
Hypatia of Alexandria
“The trouble with human beings is not really that they love themselves too much; they ought to love themselves more. The trouble is simply that they don’t love others enough.”
Mary Midgely
“We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality. But given the state of the world, is it wise?”
Iris Murdoch
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
George Eliot AKA Mary Ann Evans
I hope these quotes resonated with you! And I hope they inspire you to look up more from the aforementioned philosophers and others as well!
Here are some books that explore the topic of philosophy even more!
paytontravels.com 
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