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Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation

Book by Aristotle · 6 quotes · Men, Nicomachean Ethics, Should

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Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation Quotes

“Nature herself, as has been often said, requires that we should be able, not only to work well, but to use leisure well; for, as I must repeat once again, the first principle of all action is leisure. Both are required, but leisure is better than occupation and is its end.”

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Book:Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation
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“Take the case of just actions; just punishments and chastisements do indeed spring from a good principle, but they are good only because we cannot do without them - it would be better that neither individuals nor states should need anything of the sort - but actions which aim at honor and advantage are absolutely the best. The conditional action is only the choice of a lesser evil; whereas these are the foundation and creation of good. A good man may make the best even of poverty and disease, and the other ills of life.”

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Book:Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation
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“Of actions some aim at what is necessary and useful, and some at what is honorable. And the preference given to one or the other class of actions must necessarily be like the preference given to one or other part of the soul and its actions over the other; there must be war for the sake of peace, business for the sake of leisure, things useful and necessary for the sake of things honorable.”

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Book:Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation
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“A young man is not a proper hearer of lectures on political science; for he is inexperienced in the actions that occur in life, but its discussions start from these and are about these; and, further, since he tends to follow his passions, his study will be vain and unprofitable, because the end that is aimed at is not knowledge but action. And it makes no difference whether he is young in years or youthful in character.”

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Book:Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation
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