The good lawgiver should inquire how states and races of men and communities may participate in a good life, and in the happiness which is attainable by them.
It is not easy to determine the nature of music, or why any one should have a knowledge of it.
Nature, as we say, does nothing without some purpose; and for thepurpose of making mana political animal she has endowed him alone among the animals with the power of reasoned speech.
The excellence of a thing is related to its proper function.
We ought, so far as it lies within our power, to aspire to immortality, and do all that we can to live in conformity with the highest that is within us; for even if it is small in quantity, in power and preciousness, it far excels all the rest.
The happy life is thought to be one of excellence; now an excellent life requires exertion, and does not consist in amusement.
for we are inquiring not in order to know what virtue is, but in order to become good, since otherwise our inquiry would have been of no use
Happiness is the settling of the soul into its most appropriate spot.
