Q0558

“The excellent city is the one in which people cooperate toward the…” — Al-Farabi (The Perfect State (al-Madīna al-fāḍila), Walzer)

Verified English quotation. Primary source: The Perfect State (al-Madīna al-fāḍila), Walzer. Theme: happiness.

English

The excellent city is the one in which people cooperate toward the things by which true happiness is attained.
Thinker Al-Farabi
School Islamic Philosophy
Source The Perfect State (al-Madīna al-fāḍila), Walzer
Theme Happiness
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to The Perfect State (al-Madīna al-fāḍila), Walzer and files it under Islamic Philosophy. 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 Al-Farabi

Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī (c. 870–950), later called the ‘Second Teacher’ after Aristotle, worked mainly in Baghdad and Syria.

How to read this passage

Greek eudaimonia, Buddhist analyses of craving, utilitarian happiness, and modern well-being research all contest the meaning of a good life. This passage enters that discussion through happiness, society.

Concepts in this quote

Happiness
Happiness—or flourishing—is a central aim in ethics: what makes a life go well, and whether pleasure alone is enough.
Society
Society is the web of institutions, customs, and mutual expectations in which individual freedom takes shape.

How to cite this quotation

APA: Al-Farabi. (n.d.). The excellent city is the one in which people cooperate toward the things by which true happiness is attained. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0558

MLA: Al-Farabi. “The excellent city is the one in which….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0558.

Chicago: Al-Farabi. “The excellent city is the one in which….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0558.

Frequently asked questions

What is the source of the quotation “The excellent city is the one in which…”?

The passage is attributed to Al-Farabi, The Perfect State (al-Madīna al-fāḍila), Walzer. The archive attributes this English wording to The Perfect State (al-Madīna al-fāḍila), Walzer and files it under Islamic Philosophy. 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 Al-Farabi mean by happiness?

Greek eudaimonia, Buddhist analyses of craving, utilitarian happiness, and modern well-being research all contest the meaning of a good life. This passage enters that discussion through happiness, society.

Same thinker

More from Al-Farabi

  1. The soul has health and sickness just as the body has health and sickness.
  2. The health of the soul is for its traits to be traits by which it does good, fine, and noble actions.
  3. Happiness is the good desired for its own sake; it is never desired for the sake of something else.
  4. The statesman and the king are like the physician: they seek the health of the city as the physician seeks the health of the body.
  5. Political science inquires into the kinds of voluntary actions and ways of life, and into the happiness that is the end of the human being.

All quotations by Al-Farabi

Same theme

More on happiness

  1. The human good is activity of soul in accordance with virtue.
  2. Of all that wisdom provides for the happiness of a whole life, by far the greatest is the possession of friendship.
  3. It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.
  4. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
  5. The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions…be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.

Browse the happiness theme