--- title: "8 Deficiency Quotes By Aristotle" description: "8 Deficiency quotes by Aristotle. Plus more from Aristotle and more Deficiency sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/192/aristotle-78_character_so-virtue-is-a-purposive-disposition-lyi_426794.png" --- > [So virtue is a purposive disposition, lying in a mean that is relative to us and determined by a rational principle, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/so-virtue-is-a-purposive-disposition-lying-in-a-mean-that-is-relative/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/192/aristotle-78_character_so-virtue-is-a-purposive-disposition-lyi_426794.png) > [Virtue is the golden mean between two vices, the one of excess and the other of deficiency.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/virtue-is-the-golden-mean-between-two-vices-the-one-of-excess-and-the/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d63/aristotle-78_character_virtue-is-the-golden-mean-between-two-vi_543638.png) > [Temperance and bravery, then, are ruined by excess and deficiency, but preserved by the mean.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/temperance-and-bravery-then-are-ruined-by-excess-and-deficiency-but/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/645/aristotle-78_bravery_temperance-and-bravery-then-are-ruined-b_610282.png) > [If then, as we say, good craftsmen look to the mean as they work, and if virtue, like nature, is more accurate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/if-then-as-we-say-good-craftsmen-look-to-the-mean-as-they-work-and-if/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/796/aristotle-78_accurate_if-then-as-we-say-good-craftsmen-look-to_695282.jpg) > [Not every action or emotion however admits of the observance of a due mean. Indeed the very names of some directly imply…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/not-every-action-or-emotion-however-admits-of-the-observance-of-a-due-2/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f3/aristotle-78_action_not-every-action-or-emotion-however-admi_1550186.png) > [Moral qualities are so constituted as to be destroyed by excess and by deficiency . . .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/moral-qualities-are-so-constituted-as-to-be-destroyed-by-excess-and/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdb/aristotle-78_character_moral-qualities-are-so-constituted-as-to_1622619.png) > [Art not only imitates nature, but also completes its deficiencies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/art-not-only-imitates-nature-but-also-completes-its-deficiencies/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/253/aristotle-78_art_art-not-only-imitates-nature-but-also-co_2154998.png) > [Error is multiform (for evil is a form of the unlimited, as in the old Pythagorean imagery, and good of the limited),…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/error-is-multiform-for-evil-is-a-form-of-the-unlimited-as-in-the-old/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d8f/aristotle-78_badness_error-is-multiform-for-evil-is-a-form-of_2210803.png) ## More by Aristotle > [The knowledge of the soul admittedly contributes greatly to the advance of truth in general, and, above all, to our understanding of Nature, for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-knowledge-of-the-soul-admittedly-contributes-greatly-to-the/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Young men have strong passions and tend to gratify them indiscriminately. Of the bodily desires, it is the sexual by which they are most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/young-men-have-strong-passions-and-tend-to-gratify-them/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [The body is at its best between the ages of thirty and thirty-five; the mind is at its best about the age of forty-nine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-body-is-at-its-best-between-the-ages-of-thirty-and-thirty-five/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [The ensouled is distinguished from the unsouled by its being alive. Now since being alive is spoken of in many ways, even if only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-ensouled-is-distinguished-from-the-unsouled-by-its-being-alive/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Although it may be difficult in theory to know what is just and equal, the practical difficulty of inducing those to forbear who can,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/although-it-may-be-difficult-in-theory-to-know-what-is-just-and-equal/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [The true forms of government, therefore, are those in which the one, or the few, or the many, govern with a view to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-true-forms-of-government-therefore-are-those-in-which-the-one-or/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [All men by nature desire to know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/all-men-by-nature-desire-to-know/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right, and not what is established.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/all-persons-ought-to-endeavor-to-follow-what-is-right-and-not-what-is/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Give a man a poisoned fish, you feed him for the rest of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/give-a-man-a-fish-you-feed-him-for-a-day-give-a-man-a-poisoned-fish/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [The man who confers a favour would rather not be repaid in the same coin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-man-who-confers-a-favour-would-rather-not-be-repaid-in-the-same/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [The mother of revolution and crime is poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-mother-of-revolution-and-crime-is-poverty/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Obstinate people can be divided into the opinionated, the ignorant, and the boorish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/obstinate-people-can-be-divided-into-the-opinionated-the-ignorant-and/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Happiness does not consist in pastimes and amusements but in virtuous activities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/happiness-does-not-consist-in-pastimes-and-amusements-but-in-virtuous/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [To learn is a natural pleasure, not confined to philosophers, but common to all men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/to-learn-is-a-natural-pleasure-not-confined-to-philosophers-but/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Every virtue is a mean between two extremes, each of which is a vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/every-virtue-is-a-mean-between-two-extremes-each-of-which-is-a-vice/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deficiency/aristotle/#itemlist", "name": "8 Deficiency Quotes By Aristotle", "numberOfItems": 8, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "So virtue is a purposive disposition, lying in a mean that is relative to us and determined by a rational principle, and by that which a prudent man would use to determine it. It is a mean between two kinds of vice, one of excess and the other of deficiency...", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Aristotle" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/so-virtue-is-a-purposive-disposition-lying-in-a-mean-that-is-relative/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/192/aristotle-78_character_so-virtue-is-a-purposive-disposition-lyi_426794.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/192/aristotle-78_character_so-virtue-is-a-purposive-disposition-lyi_426794.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/192/aristotle-78_character_so-virtue-is-a-purposive-disposition-lyi_426794.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“So virtue is a purposive disposition, lying in a mean that is relative to us and determined by a rational…” — Aristotle", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Virtue is the golden mean between two vices, the one of excess and the other of deficiency.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Aristotle" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/virtue-is-the-golden-mean-between-two-vices-the-one-of-excess-and-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d63/aristotle-78_character_virtue-is-the-golden-mean-between-two-vi_543638.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d63/aristotle-78_character_virtue-is-the-golden-mean-between-two-vi_543638.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d63/aristotle-78_character_virtue-is-the-golden-mean-between-two-vi_543638.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Virtue is the golden mean between two vices, the one of excess and the other of deficiency.” — Aristotle", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Temperance and bravery, then, are ruined by excess and deficiency, but preserved by the mean.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Aristotle" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/temperance-and-bravery-then-are-ruined-by-excess-and-deficiency-but/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/645/aristotle-78_bravery_temperance-and-bravery-then-are-ruined-b_610282.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/645/aristotle-78_bravery_temperance-and-bravery-then-are-ruined-b_610282.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/645/aristotle-78_bravery_temperance-and-bravery-then-are-ruined-b_610282.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Temperance and bravery, then, are ruined by excess and deficiency, but preserved by the mean.” — Aristotle", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If then, as we say, good craftsmen look to the mean as they work, and if virtue, like nature, is more accurate and better than any form of art, it will follow that virtue has the quality of hitting the mean. I refer to moral virtue [not intellectual], for this is concerned with emotions and actions, in which one can have excess or deficiency or a due mean.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Aristotle" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/if-then-as-we-say-good-craftsmen-look-to-the-mean-as-they-work-and-if/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/796/aristotle-78_accurate_if-then-as-we-say-good-craftsmen-look-to_695282.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/796/aristotle-78_accurate_if-then-as-we-say-good-craftsmen-look-to_695282.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/796/aristotle-78_accurate_if-then-as-we-say-good-craftsmen-look-to_695282.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If then, as we say, good craftsmen look to the mean as they work, and if virtue, like nature, is more…” — Aristotle", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Not every action or emotion however admits of the observance of a due mean. Indeed the very names of some directly imply evil, for instance malice, shamelessness, envy, and, of actions, adultery, theft, murder. All these and similar actions and feelings are blamed as being bad in themselves; it is not the excess or deficiency of them that we blame. It is impossible therefore ever to go right in regard to them - one must always be wrong.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Aristotle" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/not-every-action-or-emotion-however-admits-of-the-observance-of-a-due-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f3/aristotle-78_action_not-every-action-or-emotion-however-admi_1550186.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f3/aristotle-78_action_not-every-action-or-emotion-however-admi_1550186.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f3/aristotle-78_action_not-every-action-or-emotion-however-admi_1550186.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Not every action or emotion however admits of the observance of a due mean. 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