# Quote — Aristotle, The Politics

> Further, the state is by nature clearly prior to the family and to the individual, since the whole is of necessity prior to the part; for example, if the whole body be destroyed, there will be no foot or hand, except in an equivocal sense, as we might speak of a stone hand; for when destroyed the hand will be no better than that. But things are defined by their working and power; and we ought not to say that they are the same when they no longer have their proper quality, but only that they have the same name.

- Author: [Aristotle](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle.md)
- Book: [The Politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/the-politics.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Politics_(Aristotle)#Quotes) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/the-politics/further-the-state

## More from this book

> Those who cannot face danger like men are the slaves of any invader.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/the-politics/those-who-cannot.md)

> Subjects are also kept poor by payment of taxes.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/the-politics/subjects-are-also.md)

> It is also in the interests of a tyrant to make his subjects poor, so that he may be able to afford the cost of his bodyguard, while the people are so occupied with their daily tasks that they have no time for plotting.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/the-politics/it-is-also.md)