The happy life is thought to be one of excellence; now an excellent life requires exertion, and does not consist in amusement.

Since the branch of philosophy on which we are at present engaged differs from the others in not being a subject of merely intellectual interest — I mean we are not concerned to know what goodness essentially is, but how we are to become good men, for this alone gives the study its practical value — we must apply our minds to the solution of the problems of conduct.

Those who have been eminent in philosophy, politics, poetry, and the arts have all had tendencies toward melancholia.

Masculine republics give way to feminine democracies, and feminine democracies give way to tyranny.

It is our actions and the soul's active exercise of its functions that we posit (as being Happiness).

Maybe crying is a means of cleaning yourself out emotionally. Or maybe it's your last resort; the only way to express yourself when words fail, the same as when you were a baby and had no words.

A life of wealth and many belongings is only a means to happiness. Honor, power, and success cannot be happiness because they depend on the whims of others, and happiness should be self-contained, complete in itself.