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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• 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 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• We assume therefore that moral virtue is the quality of acting in the best way in relation to pleasures and pains, and that vice is the opposite.

  Aristotle

  Pain, Opposites, Quality

  Aristotle (1996). “The Nicomachean Ethics”, p.36, Wordsworth Editions

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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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• It is possible to fail in many ways...while to succeed is possible only in one way.

  Aristotle

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

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

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• The self-indulgent man craves for all pleasant things... and is led by his appetite to choose these at the cost of everything else.

  Aristotle

  Men, Self, Cost

  Aristotle, (2014). “Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation”, p.1766, Princeton University Press

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• It is well said, then, that it is by doing just acts that the just man is produced, and by doing temperate acts the temperate man; without doing these no one would have even a prospect of becoming good. But most people do not do these, but take refuge in theory and think they are being philosophers and will become good in this way, behaving somewhat like patients who listen attentively to their doctors, but do none of the things they are ordered to do.

  Aristotle

  Thinking, Men, Doctors

  Aristotle, (2014). “Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation”, p.1746, Princeton University Press

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• We must not listen to those who advise us 'being men to think human thoughts, and being mortal to think mortal thoughts' but must put on immortality as much as possible and strain every nerve to live according to that best part of us, which, being small in bulk, yet much more in its power and honour surpasses all else.

  Aristotle

  Men, Thinking, Nerves

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• The pleasures arising from thinking and learning will make us think and learn all the more. 1153a 23

  Aristotle

  Thinking, Pleasure

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