Some of you read with me 40 years ago a portion of Aristotle's Ethics, a selection of passages that describe his idea of happiness. You may not remember too well.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The last part, the part you're now approaching, was for Aristotle the most important for happiness.
For Aristotle, goodness is a kind of prospering in the precarious affair of being human.
The ancient Greek view of happiness was really defined by leading a productive life: It's not about how much you have, it's about what you do with it.
Happiness is secured through virtue; it is a good attained by man's own will.
The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.
No matter how dull, or how mean, or how wise a man is, he feels that happiness is his indisputable right.
Basically, Aristotle believed that every time you behaved unkind and immorally - performing actions your soul was not proud of - you tarnished your soul. The worst shape your soul became in, the worst shape your mood and spirit.
Happiness is spiritual, born of truth and love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it.
The real problem with happiness is neither its pursuers nor their books; it's happiness itself. Happiness is like beauty: part of its glory lies in its transience.
Happiness is a light, an atmosphere, an illumination. It sets a personality. I always feel that it is a creation that is difficult for some and easy for others, but essentially an achievement, never an accident.
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