ΕΥΔΟΞΑ ΑΓΝΩΣΤΑ ΚΑΤΑΓΕΛΑΣΤΑ
“The people quickly fall into slavery through the good intentions of their betters”
ἀπὸ τούτων τοίνυν τῶν ἀγαθῶν τάχιστ’ ἂν ὁ δῆμος εἰς δουλείαν καταπέσοι.
This is from the Athenaion Politeia (“Constitution of the Athenians”), which may or may not be by Aristotle but is certainly not by Xenophon.
[Zeno said that] “That which does not make something bigger or smaller when it is added or taken away is not real.”
ὃ γὰρ µήτε προστιθέµενον µήτε ἀφαιρούµενον ποιεῖ µεῖζον
µηδὲ ἔλαττον, οὔ φησιν εἶναι τοῦτο τῶν ὄντων
From Zeno of Elea, a student of Parmenides. Famous for paradoxes (he even appears as an interlocutor for Socrates in Plato’s Parmenides).
(Not the Zeno who founded Stoicism)
“Time is the wisest and most unteachable thing.”
σοφώτατόν τοι κἀμαθέστατον χρόνος
(Yes, we left the assertive τοι out of the translation.)
Simplicius, not so simple.
“As Sappho says, death is a great evil and the gods have judged it so: for they do not die”
ἢ ὥσπερ Σαπφώ, ὅτι τὸ ἀποθνῄσκειν κακόν· οἱ θεοὶ
γὰρ οὕτω κεκρίκασιν· ἀπέθνησκον γὰρ ἄν.
Aristotle was a great reader of poetry