Website owner: James Miller
Aristotle on virtue
The following quotations are from Aristotle:
Bad people...are in conflict with themselves; they desire one thing and do another, like the incontinent who choose harmful pleasures instead of what they themselves believe to be good.
Without virtue, man is most unholy and savage, and worst in regard to sex and eating.
At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.
The self-indulgent man craves for all pleasant things... and is led by his appetite to choose these at the cost of everything else.
It is of the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it.
Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.
We acquire a particular quality by acting in a particular way.
Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
For though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first.
All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right, and not what is established.
Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them.
Happiness belongs to the self sufficient.
“...happiness does not consist in amusement. In fact, it would be strange if our end were amusement, and if we were to labor and suffer hardships all our life long merely to amuse ourselves.... The happy life is regarded as a life in conformity with virtue. It is a life which involves effort and is not spent in amusement....”
Through discipline comes freedom.
The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.
All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire.
The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think.
I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self.
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny.
Oct 2019
Jesus Christ and His Teachings
Way of enlightenment, wisdom, and understanding
America, a corrupt, depraved, shameless country
On integrity and the lack of it
The test of a person's Christianity is what he is
Ninety five percent of the problems that most people have come from personal foolishness
Liberalism, socialism and the modern welfare state
The desire to harm, a motivation for conduct
On Self-sufficient Country Living, Homesteading
Topically Arranged Proverbs, Precepts, Quotations. Common Sayings. Poor Richard's Almanac.
Theory on the Formation of Character
People are like radio tuners --- they pick out and listen to one wavelength and ignore the rest
Cause of Character Traits --- According to Aristotle
We are what we eat --- living under the discipline of a diet
Avoiding problems and trouble in life
Role of habit in formation of character
Personal attributes of the true Christian
What determines a person's character?
Love of God and love of virtue are closely united
Intellectual disparities among people and the power in good habits
Tools of Satan. Tactics and Tricks used by the Devil.
The Natural Way -- The Unnatural Way
Wisdom, Reason and Virtue are closely related
Knowledge is one thing, wisdom is another
My views on Christianity in America
The most important thing in life is understanding
We are all examples --- for good or for bad
Television --- spiritual poison
The Prime Mover that decides "What We Are"
Where do our outlooks, attitudes and values come from?
Sin is serious business. The punishment for it is real. Hell is real.
Self-imposed discipline and regimentation
Achieving happiness in life --- a matter of the right strategies
Self-control, self-restraint, self-discipline basic to so much in life