Quotessence
Home / Books / Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation

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

Book by Aristotle · 4 quotes · Men, Nicomachean Ethics, Should

Filter quotes by topic

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

“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.”

“The same thing may have all the kinds of causes, e.g. the moving cause of a house is the art or the builder, the final cause is the function it fulfils, the matter is earth and stones, and the form is the definitory formula.”