Q0559

“Happiness is the good desired for its own sake; it is never…” — Al-Farabi (The Attainment of Happiness)

Verified English quotation. Primary source: The Attainment of Happiness. Theme: happiness.

English

Happiness is the good desired for its own sake; it is never desired for the sake of something else.
Thinker Al-Farabi
School Islamic Philosophy
Source The Attainment of Happiness
Theme Happiness
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to The Attainment of Happiness 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, good.

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.
Good
Good appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat good as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.

How to cite this quotation

APA: Al-Farabi. (n.d.). Happiness is the good desired for its own sake; it is never desired for the sake of something else. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0559

MLA: Al-Farabi. “Happiness is the good desired for its own….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0559.

Chicago: Al-Farabi. “Happiness is the good desired for its own….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0559.

Frequently asked questions

What is the source of the quotation “Happiness is the good desired for its own…”?

The passage is attributed to Al-Farabi, The Attainment of Happiness. The archive attributes this English wording to The Attainment of Happiness 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, good.

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. The excellent city is the one in which people cooperate toward the things by which true happiness is attained.
  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