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Aristotle on becoming just by just acts

c. 335–322 BCE, Athens (Lyceum). His own words, in the Nicomachean Ethics.

Where and when

c. 335–322 BCEAthens (Lyceum)

about 2,353 years ago

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Aristotle

, Athens (Lyceum)His own words, in the Nicomachean Ethics

In plain words, ours

You become a builder by building and a harpist by playing. In the same way you become fair, self-controlled or brave by acting that way.

…men become builders by building houses, harpers by playing on the harp. Similarly we become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 2.1.4Translated by H. Rackham (1926)Read the full passage (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 2.1.4, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle is explaining where good character comes from. He argues that nature only gives us the ability, and that we gain virtues by practising them, the same way people learn a craft. Lawgivers, he adds, try to train citizens into good habits.

Checked claim by claim against: the passage around the quote.

Related moments

In time order, with this one in its place. Each says why it is here.

  1. by 348 BCEabout 20 years earlier Plato answers Diogenes Also about how to live well
  2. c. 348/347 BCEabout 19.5 years earlier Plato dies, aged about eighty Also in Athens
  3. 335/334 BCEabout 7 years earlier Aristotle opens his school at the Lyceum Also in AthensAlso about teaching and learning
  4. 336–323 BCEDuring it Diogenes meets Alexander Same years
  5. 334–323 BCEDuring it Alexander writes to Aristotle Also about teaching and learning
  6. c. 335–322 BCEThis momentAristotle on becoming just by just acts
  7. c. 335–322 BCEDuring it Aristotle on being angry the right way More from Aristotle
  8. c. 335–322 BCEDuring it Aristotle on friendship More from Aristotle
  9. c. 335–322 BCEDuring it Aristotle on one swallow and happiness More from Aristotle
  10. 323 BCEabout 4.5 years later Alexander dies in Babylon Same years
  11. c. 324–321 BCEabout 5 years later Diogenes the Cynic dies in Corinth Same years
  12. by 323 BCEabout 5 years later Diogenes throws away his cup Also about how to live well
  13. by 323 BCEabout 5 years later Diogenes makes a tub his home Also in Athens

Just before and after

The text around the quote, word for word from the same translation.

Show the passageHide the passage

The virtues therefore are engendered in us neither by nature nor yet in violation of nature; nature gives us the capacity to receive them, and this capacity is brought to maturity by habit. Moreover, the faculties given us by nature are bestowed on us first in a potential form; we exhibit their actual exercise afterwards. This is clearly so with our senses: we did not acquire the faculty of sight or hearing by repeatedly seeing or repeatedly listening, but the other way about—because we had the senses we began to use them, we did not get them by using them. The virtues on the other hand we acquire by first having actually practised them, just as we do the arts. We learn an art or craft by doing the things that we shall have to do when we have learnt it: for instance,

The quote: men become builders by building houses, harpers by playing on the harp. Similarly we become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.

This truth is attested by the experience of states: lawgivers make the citizens good by training them in habits of right action—this is the aim of all legislation, and if it fails to do this it is a failure; this is what distinguishes a good form of constitution from a bad one.

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 2.1.3–5Translated by H. Rackham (1926)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
c. 335–322 BCE. His works are hard to date; they are usually placed in his Lyceum years in Athens, 335–322 BCE.
Whose words
His own words, in the Nicomachean Ethics. Who was Aristotle?
How this post was checked
  • The plain-words line was read against the quote alone by a second, independent pass, which found it adds no claim the quote does not make (2026-10-03).
  • Each claim in the summary was checked by an independent pass against only the material it cites.
  • The quote itself is checked by the build: word for word, once, at the cited section of the stored translation.

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