Nicomachean Ethics Quotes

• The truly good and wise man will bear all kinds of fortune in a seemly way, and will always act in the noblest manner that the circumstances allow.

  Aristotle

  Life, Gratitude, Courage

  "Nicomachean Ethics". Book by Aristotle, I, 1101a, www.perseus.tufts.edu.

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• The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently; but he is willing, in great crises, to give even his life - knowing that under certain conditions it is not worthwhile to live.

  Aristotle

  Wise, Wisdom, Men

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• We make war that we may live in peace.

  Aristotle

  Strength, Veterans Day, Peace

  Nicomachean Ethics bk. 10, 1177b See Vegetius 1

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• Bad people...are in conflict with themselves; they desire one thing and will another, like the incontinent who choose harmful pleasures instead of what they themselves believe to be good.

  Aristotle

  Believe, People, Desire

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• The virtues [moral excellence] therefore are engendered in us neither by nature nor yet in violation of nature; nature gives us the capacity to receive them, and this capacity is brought to maturity by habit.

  Aristotle

  Maturity, Giving, Excellence

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• Happiness, then, is found to be something perfect and self-sufficient, being the end to which our actions are directed.

  Aristotle

  Happiness, Self, Perfect

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• In a word, acts of any kind produce habits or characters of the same kind. Hence we ought to make sure that our acts are of a certain kind; for the resulting character varies as they vary. It makes no small difference, therefore, whether a man be trained in his youth up in this way or that, but a great difference, or rather all the difference.

  Aristotle

  Character, Men, Differences

  "Nicomachean Ethics". Book by Aristotle. Book II, 1103b,

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• The happy life is thought to be one of excellence; now an excellent life requires exertion, and does not consist in amusement.

  Aristotle

  Life, Inspire, Excellence

  Aristotle, (2014). “Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation”, p.1860, Princeton University Press

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• These virtues are formed in man by his doing the actions ... The good of man is a working of the soul in the way of excellence in a complete life.

  Aristotle

  Men, Soul, Excellence

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• The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another, not because he does not feel them, but because he is a man of high and heroic temper.

  Aristotle

  Inspirational, Courage, Yoga

  Aristotle (1953). “Ethics: The Nicomachean Ethics”

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• The life of money-making is one undertaken under compulsion, and wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else.

  Aristotle

  Sake, Wealth, Making Money

  Aristotle, (2014). “Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation”, p.1732, Princeton University Press

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• Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and choice, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim.

  Aristotle

  Art, Choices, Inquiry

  Nicomachean Ethics, bk.1, ch.1,1093 (translated by Sir David Ross).

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• It is possible to fail in many ways . . . while to succeed is possible only in one way (for which reason also one is easy and the other difficult - to miss the mark easy, to hit it difficult).

  Aristotle

  Failure, Missing, Way

  Nichomachean Ethics (c. 330 b.c.).

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• He is his own best friend and takes delight in privacy whereas the man of no virtue or ability is his own worst enemy and is afraid of solitude.

  Aristotle

  Single, Men, Worst Enemy

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• Where it is in our power to act, it is also in our power to not act.

  Aristotle

  Aristotle (2013). “The Essential Aristotle”, p.522, Simon and Schuster

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• Happiness is an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue

  Aristotle

  Soul, Virtue, Activity

  Aristotle (1869). “The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle”, p.30

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• To be conscious that we are perceiving or thinking is to be conscious of our own existence.

  Aristotle

  Thinking, Justice, Diversity

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• It is the mark of an educated man to look for precision in each class of things just so far as the nature of the subject admits

  Aristotle

  Men, Class, Looks

  Aristotle (2013). “The Essential Aristotle”, p.487, Simon and Schuster

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• Happiness is thought to depend on leisure; for we are busy that we may have leisure, and make war that we may live in peace.

  Aristotle

  War, May, Leisure

  Aristotle, (2014). “Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation”, p.1861, Princeton University Press

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• The ideal man is his own best friend and takes delight in privacy.

  Aristotle

  Single, Men, Silence

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• If happiness is activity in accordance with excellence, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest excellence.

  Aristotle

  Happiness, Laughter, Joy

  Aristotle, (2014). “Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation”, p.1860, Princeton University Press

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• Everything that depends on the action of nature is by nature as good as it can be, and similarly everything that depends on art or any rational cause, and especially if it depends on the best of all causes.

  Aristotle

  Art, Causes, Action

  Aristotle (2016). “Pocket Aristotle”, p.170, Simon and Schuster

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• Hence intellect[ual perception] is both a beginning and an end, for the demonstrations arise from these, and concern them. As a result, one ought to pay attention to the undemonstrated assertions and opinions of experienced and older people, or of the prudent, no less than to demonstrations, for, because the have an experienced eye, they see correctly.

  Aristotle

  Eye, People, Perception

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• If we state the function of man to be a certain kind of life, and this to be an activity or actions of the soul implying a rational principle, and the function of a good man to be the good and noble performance of these, and if any action is well performed when it is performed in accordance with the appropriate excellence human good turns out to be activity of the soul in accordance with virtue, and if there are more than one virtue, in accordance with the best and most complete.

  Aristotle

  Men, Soul, Good Man

  "Nicomachean Ethics". Book by Aristotle. Book I, 1098a,

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• To enjoy the things we ought and to hate the things we ought has the greatest bearing on excellence of character.

  Aristotle

  Inspirational, Hate, Character

  Aristotle, (2014). “Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation”, p.1852, Princeton University Press

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