“For pleasure is a state of soul, and to each man that which he is said to be a lover of is pleasant…. Now for most men their pleasures are in conflict with one another because these are not by nature pleasant, but the lovers of what is noble find pleasant the things that are by nature pleasant; and virtuous actions are such… Happiness then is the best, noblest, and most pleasant thing in the world, and these attributes are not severed as in the inscription at Delos: Most noble is that which is justest, and best is health; but pleasantest is it to win what we love.”

—  Aristotle , book Nicomachean Ethics

Book I, 1099a.6
Nicomachean Ethics

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "For pleasure is a state of soul, and to each man that which he is said to be a lover of is pleasant…. Now for most men …" by Aristotle?
Aristotle photo
Aristotle 230
Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder o… -384–-321 BC

Related quotes

Solón photo

“Do not counsel what is most pleasant, but what is best.”

Solón (-638–-558 BC) Athenian legislator

Demetrius of Phalerum, "Apophthegms of the Seven Sages," in Early Greek Philosophy, vol. 2 (Loeb Classical Library, volume 525), p. 141

Jami photo

“How a pleasant word of an old lover that said
When there is lovem there is no comfort.”

Jami (1414–1492) Persian poet

Joseph and Zuleika, p. 254
Poetry, Poetry from Joseph and Zuleika

“To make pleasures pleasant, shorten them.”

Charles Buxton (1823–1871) English brewer, philanthropist, writer and politician

Source: Notes of Thought (1883), p. 122

“Emotional chaos is not pleasant; distillation of that chaos afterward may perhaps be pleasant in some of its aspects, and undoubtedly gives pleasure to others.”

Robertson Davies book A Voice from the Attic

A Voice from the Attic (1960)
Context: Complementary to his is Thurber's remark that "humour is a kind of emotional chaos, told about quietly and calmly in retrospect". Emotional chaos is not pleasant; distillation of that chaos afterward may perhaps be pleasant in some of its aspects, and undoubtedly gives pleasure to others.

George Sarton photo

“Greek culture is pleasant to contemplate because of its great simplicity and naturalness, and because of the absence of gadgets, each of which is sooner or later a cause of servitude.”

George Sarton (1884–1956) American historian of science

Preface.
A History of Science Vol.1 Ancient Science Through the Golden Age of Greece (1952)

Arthur Hugh Clough photo

“I sit at my table en grand seigneur,
And when I have done, throw a crust to the poor;
Not only the pleasure, one’s self, of good living,
But also the pleasure of now and then giving.
So pleasant it is to have money, heigh ho!
So pleasant it is to have money.”

Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861) English poet

Dipsychus, Pt. II, sc. ii.

Pythagoras photo

“It is requisite to choose the most excellent life; for custom will make it pleasant.”

Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher

"Pythagorean Ethical Sentences From Stobæus" (1904)
Florilegium
Context: It is requisite to choose the most excellent life; for custom will make it pleasant. Wealth is an infirm anchor, glory is still more infirm; and in a similar manner, the body, dominion, and honour. For all these are imbecile and powerless. What then are powerful anchors. Prudence, magnanimity, fortitude. These no tempest can shake. This is the Law of God, that virtue is the only thing that is strong; and that every thing else is a trifle.

Alain photo

“Certainly thinking is pleasant, but the pleasure of thinking must be subordinated to the art of making decisions.”

Alain (1868–1951) French philosopher

Ceremonies
Alain On Happiness (1928)

Thomas Robert Malthus photo

“It is not the most pleasant employment to spend eight hours a day in a counting house.”

Thomas Robert Malthus Principles of Political Economy

Book II, Chapter I, On the Progress of Wealth, Section IX, p. 403
Principles of Political Economy (Second Edition 1836)

Jonathan Edwards photo

“Holiness appeared to me to be of a sweet, pleasant, charming, serene, calm nature; which brought an inexpressible purity, brightness, peacefulness and ravishment to the soul.”

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) Christian preacher, philosopher, and theologian

Source: The Sermons of Jonathan Edwards: A Reader

Related topics