“Happiness depends upon ourselves”

—  Aristotle

An interpretative gloss of Aristotle's position in Nicomachean Ethics book 1 section 9, tacitly inserted by J. A. K. Thomson in his English translation The Ethics of Aristotle (1955). The original Greek at Book I 1099b.29 http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=GreekFeb2011&getid=0&query=Arist.%20Eth.%20Nic.%201099b.25, reads ὁμολογούμενα δὲ ταῦτ’ ἂν εἴη καὶ τοῖς ἐν ἀρχῇ, which W. D. Ross translates fairly literally as [a]nd this will be found to agree with what we said at the outset. Thomson's much freer translation renders the same passage thus: [t]he conclusion that happiness depends upon ourselves is in harmony with what I said in the first of these lectures; the words "that happiness depends upon ourselves" were added by Thomson to clarify what "the conclusion" is, but they do not appear in the original Greek of Aristotle. Rackham's earlier English translation added a similar gloss, but averted confusion by confining it to a footnote.
Disputed
Variant: Happiness depends upon ourselves
Source: See http://www.mikrosapoplous.gr/aristotle/nicom1b.htm#I9 for the original Greek and Ross's translation; Thomson's translation can be viewed on Google Books https://books.google.com/books?id=9SFrNWmO654C&dq=%22happiness+depends+upon+ourselves%22+aristotle&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22happiness+depends+upon+ourselves%22+.
Source: Rackham's translation of this passage is available here http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0054%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D9%3Asection%3D8

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update April 14, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Happiness depends upon ourselves" by Aristotle?
Aristotle photo
Aristotle 230
Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder o… -384–-321 BC

Related quotes

“Happiness depends upon ourselves.”

Rhonda Byrne (1951) Australian writer and producer

The Secret Daily Teachings

Corrie ten Boom photo

“Happiness isn't something that depends on our surroundings… It's something we make inside ourselves.”

Corrie ten Boom (1892–1983) Dutch resistance hero and writer

“Remember happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely on what you think.”

Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American writer and lecturer

As quoted in Plenty of Time to Sleep When You're Dead : A Compilation of Life-changing Quotes (2006) by Richard Caridi
As quoted in Sprituality in a Materialistic World (2008) by Leslie Klein
Variant: Remember happiness doesn't depend on who you are or what you have; it depends solely upon what you think.

Harry Emerson Fosdick photo

“To keep the Golden Rule we must put ourselves in other people's places, but to do that consists in and depends upon picturing ourselves in their places.”

Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969) American pastor

As quoted in Don't Try to Live Your Life in One Day! (2008) by Johnny Ong, p. 171

Marcus Aurelius photo

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts; therefore guard accordingly.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Variant: The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.
Source: Meditations

George Washington photo

“Happiness depends more upon the internal frame of a person’s own mind, than on the externals in the world.”

George Washington (1732–1799) first President of the United States
Benjamin Disraeli photo

“The health of the people is really the foundation upon which all their happiness and all their powers as a state depend.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Speech of 1877-06-24
1870s

Baruch Spinoza photo

“All happiness or unhappiness solely depends upon the quality of the object to which we are attached by love.”
Tota felicitas aut infelicitas in hoc solo sita est; videlicet in qualitate obiecti, cui adhaeremus amore.

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) Dutch philosopher

I, 9; translation by W. Hale White (Revised by Amelia Hutchison Stirling)
On the Improvement of the Understanding (1662)

George Mason photo

“Happiness and Prosperity are now within our Reach; but to attain and preserve them must depend upon our own Wisdom and Virtue.”

George Mason (1725–1792) American delegate from Virginia to the U.S. Constitutional Convention

Letter to William Cabell (6 May 1783)

Adam Smith photo

“When the happiness or misery of others depends in any respect upon our conduct, we dare not, as self–love might suggest to us, prefer the interest of one to that of many. The man within immediately calls to us, that we value ourselves too much and other people too little, and that, by doing so, we render ourselves the proper object of the contempt and indignation of our brethren.”

Adam Smith book The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Chap. III.
The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), Part III
Context: When the happiness or misery of others depends in any respect upon our conduct, we dare not, as self–love might suggest to us, prefer the interest of one to that of many. The man within immediately calls to us, that we value ourselves too much and other people too little, and that, by doing so, we render ourselves the proper object of the contempt and indignation of our brethren. Neither is this sentiment confined to men of extraordinary magnanimity and virtue. It is deeply impressed upon every tolerably good soldier, who feels that he would become the scorn of his companions, if he could be supposed capable of shrinking from danger, or of hesitating, either to expose or to throw away his life, when the good of the service required it.

Related topics