“Whosoever is delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast or a god.”

—  Aristotle

Last update April 14, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Whosoever is delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast or a god." by Aristotle?
Aristotle photo
Aristotle230
Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder o… -384–-321 BC

Related quotes

Francis Bacon photo

“Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.”

Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author

Variant: He who delights in solitude is either a wild beast or a God.

Francis Bacon photo

“But we may go further, and affirm most truly, that it is a mere and miserable solitude to want true friends; without which the world is but a wilderness; and even in this sense also of solitude, whosoever in the frame of his nature and affections, is unfit for friendship, he taketh it of the beast, and not from humanity.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Friendship
Essays (1625)

Orson Scott Card photo

“When we intended to enjoy being cruel, we must transform our victim into either a beast or a god.”

Orson Scott Card book Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (1996)

John of the Cross photo

“The very pure spirit does not bother about the regard of others or human respect, but communes inwardly with God, alone and in solitude as to all forms, and with delightful tranquility, for the knowledge of God is received in divine silence.”

John of the Cross (1542–1591) Spanish mystic and Roman Catholic saint

The Sayings of Light and Love

Julian (emperor) photo

“No wild beasts are so dangerous to men as Christians are to one another.”

Julian (emperor) (331–363) Roman Emperor, philosopher and writer

As quoted by Ammianus Marcellinus, as translated in Barbarians: An Alternative Roman History (2006) by Terry Jones, p. 205 ISBN 9780563539162
General sources

Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon photo

“…the wild flowers blooming in hushed solitude
Start not at the whispering, 'tis but the breeze”

Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon (1829–1879) Canadian writer

from A Canadian Summer Evening

Aristotle photo

“He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.”

Aristotle book Politics

Book I, 1253a.27
Politics

Voltaire photo

“The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture for wild beasts to fight in.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Les anciens Romains élevaient des prodiges d'architecture pour faire combattre des bêtes.
Letter addressed to "un premier commis" [name unknown] (20 June 1733), from Oeuvres Complètes de Voltaire: Correspondance [Garnier frères, Paris, 1880], vol. I, letter # 343 (p. 354)
Citas

Albert Einstein photo

“Solitude is painful when one is young, but delightful when one is more mature.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Related topics