Aristotle

Aristotle was a good man. He strove for clarity and conciseness. He offered a workable, if not ideal, model of human behaviour. Here are a few of the many things he said, restated...

Where there are things to be done, the point isn't to look them over and recognize them, but rather to do them; regarding virtue, then, it isn't enough to know, but we must try to have and use it, or try any other way there may be of becoming good.

The happy life is considered virtuous; a virtuous life takes work, and isn't made up of amusement.

...friendship is a partnership, and a you are to yourself as you are to your friend...

...all persons love more what they win through their work; for instance, those who have made their money love it more than those who have inherited it; and to be treated well seems to take no work, while to treat others well is hard work.

The magnificent person is like an artist; able to see what is fitting and to spend large sums tastefully.

Virtue is in our power, and so is vice. ...where it is in our power to act it is also in our power not to act, and vice versa... wickedness is voluntary.

...each of us judges well the things we know...

...some argue whether the happy person will need friends or not. ...but plainly it's better to spend time with friends and good persons than with strangers or any chance person.

...so, the presence of friends seems desirable in all circumstances...

Aristotle lived and wrote over 2000 years ago. It could have been only yesterday.

times/places

Born 384 b.C.E., Stagyra, Thrace.
Died 322 b.C.E., Chalcis, Euboea.

Jonathan Barnes (ed.) (1984) The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Edition 2 volumes.
Richard McKeon (ed.) (1941) The Basic Works of Aristotle.
Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle, from The Internet Classics Archive.