Those who deny [Aristotle’s] first principle should be flogged or burned until they admit that it is not the same thing to be burned and not burned, or whipped and not whipped.
“As a mark is not set up for the purpose of missing the aim, so neither does the nature of evil exist in the world.”
Epictetus, ‘Enchiridion’
“It is absurd to hold that a man ought to be ashamed of being unable to defend himself with his limbs, but not of being unable to defend himself with speech and reason, when the use of rational speech is more distinctive of a human being than the use of his limbs.”
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
And now a quote that led me to have a big discussion regarding Aristotle vs AR, a quote that’s a profound influence on me, and importance of which is completely belied by its length. It’s hard to overestimate this quote’s value and importance:
“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”