Quotation
Last reviewed:
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Aristotle · Aristotelianism · Ancient · 1926, not the 4th century BCE
Part of:Check a quote before you share →
What does it mean?
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. Will Durant wrote this in 1926 as his own summary of Aristotle's ethics. Aristotle's claim, in Nicomachean Ethics II.1, is that we become just by doing just acts. A rival reading says the attribution does not matter because the summary is intelligent and the practice is right. The practice can be kept. The citation cannot. A good paraphrase promoted to a quotation teaches people that fame is a source. Durant was teaching a true Aristotelian idea.
Did Aristotle really say this?
The library’s label is Misattributed. Will Durant wrote this in The Story of Philosophy as his own summary of Aristotle's ethics. Aristotle's actual claim, in Nicomachean Ethics II.1, is that we become just by doing just acts. The famous wording is Durant's, and it is an intelligent paraphrase, not a quotation.
Where it comes from
Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy (1926), summarising Aristotle
Approximate date: 1926, not the 4th century BCE.
How to use it
If the line is doing work in your week, repeat the just act and fix the citation. Credit Durant for the sentence and Aristotle for the doctrine. A team poster in a London office can survive the correction. It cannot survive as evidence about the fourth century.
A mindset reading
A good paraphrase is still not a quotation. The habit of checking is the excellence this card is for. Admiration for the content is not a reference, even when the content is, broadly, his school's.
Understand the philosophy
Durant's book introduced generations to philosophy and also, accidentally, to a century of misquotation. The library keeps his sentence so the lesson has a specimen. The real Aristotelian claim about habituation is a different sentence, with a different job.
- virtue
- ethics
- self
FAQ
What does it mean?
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. Will Durant wrote this in 1926 as his own summary of Aristotle's ethics. Aristotle's claim, in Nicomachean Ethics II.1, is that we become just by doing just acts. A rival reading says the attribution does not matter because the summary is intelligent and the practice is right. The practice can be kept. The citation cannot. A good paraphrase promoted to a quotation teaches people that fame is a source. Durant was teaching a true Aristotelian idea.
Did Aristotle really say this?
Misattributed. Will Durant wrote this in The Story of Philosophy as his own summary of Aristotle's ethics. Aristotle's actual claim, in Nicomachean Ethics II.1, is that we become just by doing just acts. The famous wording is Durant's, and it is an intelligent paraphrase, not a quotation.
Which work is it in?
Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy (1926), summarising Aristotle Approximate date: 1926, not the 4th century BCE.