By doing just actions we come to be just; by doing the actions of self-mastery we come to be perfected in self-mastery; and by doing brave actions brave.
Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics, Book II, Chapter I (340 BCE) Translated by D. P. Chase
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When and why it was written
- When
- From the opening of Book II of the Nicomachean Ethics, on how virtue is acquired.
- Why
- Aristotle is arguing that character comes from practice, the way a harp player learns by playing.
What it means
Aristotle reverses the usual order. We do not first become good and then act well; we act well, again and again, and that is how we become good.
Any habit works this way, including the habit of writing a little each day.
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
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Nicomachean Ethics, 340 BCE
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