Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.
In plain words
Nobody would want a life with everything in it except friends.
Where these words come from
- 88% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII.1 (Bekker 1155a5), W.D. Ross translation, 1908 (public domain, MIT Classics Archive).
- Nicomachean Ethics
- c. 340 BCE · Athens · lecture notes on friendship, delivered at the Lyceum
More from Aristotle
See allKnowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.
AristotleThe roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.AristotleThe greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor.AristotleNature makes nothing in vain.Aristotleso too we become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.AristotleAnd in loving a friend men love what is good for themselves; for the good man in becoming a friend becomes a good to his friend.Aristotle
AristotleThe roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.AristotleThe greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor.AristotleNature makes nothing in vain.Aristotleso too we become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.AristotleAnd in loving a friend men love what is good for themselves; for the good man in becoming a friend becomes a good to his friend.AristotleMore on friendship
It takes a village to raise a child.African proverbThe typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, 'What? You too? I thought I was the only one.'
C.S. LewisMy friends are my 'estate.' Forgive me then the avarice to hoard them.
Emily DickinsonThe only way to have a friend is to be one.
Ralph Waldo EmersonIs it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?
ConfuciusThe better part of one's life consists of his friendships.
Abraham Lincoln
C.S. LewisMy friends are my 'estate.' Forgive me then the avarice to hoard them.Emily DickinsonThe only way to have a friend is to be one.Ralph Waldo EmersonIs it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?ConfuciusThe better part of one's life consists of his friendships.Abraham Lincoln