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

Book by Aristotle · 5 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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“Laws, when good, should be supreme; and that the magistrate or magistrates should regulate those matters only on which the laws are unable to speak with precision owing to the difficulty of any general principle embracing all particulars.”

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Book:Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation
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“Now the soul of man is divided into two parts, one of which has a rational principle in itself, and the other, not having a rational principle in itself, is able to obey such a principle. And we call a man in any way good because he has the virtues of these two parts.”

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