Aristotle: “Virtue is a state…”

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to Nicomachean Ethics II.6 and files it under Peripatetic School. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

About Aristotle

Aristotle (384–322 BCE) was a Greek philosopher born in Stagira in Macedonia, the son of a court physician. At about seventeen he entered Plato’s Academy in Athens and remained associated with it until Plato’s death in 347.

Interpretation

This is Aristotle's fuller definition, and it adds two qualifications to the bare formula. Virtue is a state concerned with choice, so it involves deliberation rather than mere habit or feeling; and the mean is relative to us, not a fixed midpoint. Together these exclude both the reading of virtue as moderation and the reading of it as a rule. What is required is judgement about what this situation calls for.

Why it matters

The addition that matters is "relative to us": the right action is not the average of two extremes but the one appropriate here, for you.

Concepts in this quote

Meaning: Meaning appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat meaning as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.
Choice: Choice is the hinge of agency: selecting among options under reasons, constraints, and uncertainty.
Virtue: Virtue names excellences of character—habits of perception and action oriented toward the good.

How to cite this quotation

APA: Aristotle. (n.d.). Virtue is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean relative to us. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0012

MLA: Aristotle. “Virtue is a state concerned with choice, lying….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0012.

Chicago: Aristotle. “Virtue is a state concerned with choice, lying….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0012.

Frequently asked questions

What is the source of the quotation “Virtue is a state concerned with choice, lying…”?

The passage is attributed to Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics II.6. The archive attributes this English wording to Nicomachean Ethics II.6 and files it under Peripatetic School. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

What does Aristotle mean by meaning?

Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Viktor Frankl and Ludwig Wittgenstein), meaning is framed through Logotherapy and Analytic Philosophy. Some passages define meaning; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language. This passage enters that discussion through meaning, choice, virtue.