--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The happy life is regarded as a life in…" description: "\"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.\" — Aristotle" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/447/aristotle-78_amusement_the-happy-life-is-regarded-as-a-life-in_2229732.png" --- # The happy life is regarded as a life in conformity with… ![“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.” quote by Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/447/aristotle-78_amusement_the-happy-life-is-regarded-as-a-life-in_2229732.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/447/aristotle-78_amusement_the-happy-life-is-regarded-as-a-life-in_2229732.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/447/aristotle-78_amusement_the-happy-life-is-regarded-as-a-life-in_2229732.png) > “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.” [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A good life aligns with moral virtue, requiring effort rather than idle pleasure. **In simple terms:** Virtue demands effort, not amusement. Key Takeaway Pursue virtuous actions daily. Themes virtue effort happiness Mood reflective serious Type philosophical ethical When to use this quote - personal development - ethical decision making - education - leadership Key Concepts Aristotelian ethics human flourishing Questions to Reflect On - How can you integrate effortful virtue into daily routines? - What pleasures support, not hinder, virtuous living? A Different Perspective Virtue alone may not guarantee happiness without balance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Amusement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amusement/) [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Conformity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conformity/) [Effort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/effort/) [Happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) [Happy life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happy-life/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/) ## Related quotes > [It is the active exercise of our faculties in conformity with virtue that causes happiness, and the opposite activities its opposite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/it-is-the-active-exercise-of-our-faculties-in-conformity-with-virtue/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [So many of us have abdicated our passions for obligations, as if passion is a luxury for the young, and we must all grow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erwin-mcmanus/so-many-of-us-have-abdicated-our-passions-for-obligations-as-if/) [Erwin McManus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erwin-mcmanus/) > [...happiness does not consist in amusement. In fact, it would be strange if our end were amusement, and if we were to labor and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/happiness-does-not-consist-in-amusement-in-fact-it-would-be-strange/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [“For 'activity in conformity with virtue' involves virtue.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/for-activity-in-conformity-with-virtue-involves-virtue/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [The happy man . . . will be always or at least most often employed in doing and contemplating the things that are in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-happy-man-will-be-always-or-at-least-most-often-employed-in-doing/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [If you desire truly to live you will cease trying to find magic tricks and short-cuts to life and learn the simple laws of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-m-shelton/if-you-desire-truly-to-live-you-will-cease-trying-to-find-magic/) [Herbert M. Shelton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-m-shelton/) > [“No man ever followed his genius till it misled him. Though the result were bodily weakness, yet perhaps no one can say that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/no-man-ever-followed-his-genius-till-it-misled-him-though-the-result/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“It would mean,” he told the editor of the New York World, “that we would lose our heads along with the rest and stop…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/it-would-mean-he-told-the-editor-of-the-new-york-world-that-we-would/) [John dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [Conformity will be the only virtue and any man who refuses to conform will have to pay the penalty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woodrow-wilson/conformity-will-be-the-only-virtue-and-any-man-who-refuses-to-conform/) [Woodrow Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woodrow-wilson/) > [Patience is a virtue in life, of course, but it's not something we F1 people have too much of.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niki-lauda/patience-is-a-virtue-in-life-of-course-but-it-s-not-something-we-f1/) [Niki Lauda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niki-lauda/) > [Souls that have lived in virtue are in general happy, and when separated from the irrational part of their nature, and made clean from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/souls-that-have-lived-in-virtue-are-in-general-happy-and-when/) [Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/) > [“Let the truth be told: There is no virtue anywhere. Life is sly and unscrupulous, a blackguard, wolfish, severe. In service to itself, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherynne-m-valente/let-the-truth-be-told-there-is-no-virtue-anywhere-life-is-sly-and/) [Catherynne M. Valente](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherynne-m-valente/) > [The great virtue in life is real courage that knows how to face facts and live beyond them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/the-great-virtue-in-life-is-real-courage-that-knows-how-to-face-facts/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [Patience is a virtue, life is a handful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/patience-is-a-virtue-life-is-a-handful/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [True virtue is life under the direction of reason.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baruch-spinoza/true-virtue-is-life-under-the-direction-of-reason/) [Baruch Spinoza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/baruch-spinoza/) ## 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/) [Explore all 1,545 Aristotle quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) ## More Amusement quotes > [Cultivate the habit of thinking ahead, and of anticipating the necessary and immediate consequences of all your actions… Likewise in your pleasures, ask yourself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-chesterfield/cultivate-the-habit-of-thinking-ahead-and-of-anticipating-the/) [Lord Chesterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-chesterfield/) > [Ancient eyes had stared at me, filled with ancient grief. And something more. Something so alien and unexpected that I'd almost burst into tears.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-marie-moning/ancient-eyes-had-stared-at-me-filled-with-ancient-grief-and-something/) [Karen Marie Moning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-marie-moning/) > [Every producer in Hollywood had set me down as a type. I was both amused and disappointed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bela-lugosi/every-producer-in-hollywood-had-set-me-down-as-a-type-i-was-both/) [Bela Lugosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bela-lugosi/) > [By amusing myself with all these games, all this nonsense, all these picture puzzles, I became famous... I am only a public entertainer who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/by-amusing-myself-with-all-these-games-all-this-nonsense-all-these/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [I just started writing for my own amusement and occasionally singing in little clubs around Los Angeles. Then I wrote 'The Rose,' and through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amanda-mcbroom/i-just-started-writing-for-my-own-amusement-and-occasionally-singing/) [Amanda McBroom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amanda-mcbroom/) > [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/) > [The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/the-mass-of-men-lead-lives-of-quiet-desperation-what-is-called/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [Ordinary people simply don't know what books mean to us, shut up here. Reading, learning, and the radio are our amusements.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-frank/ordinary-people-simply-don-t-know-what-books-mean-to-us-shut-up-here/) [Anne Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-frank/) > [My first job was at an amusement park in Virginia. It was the worst. I loved the park but once I'd worked there all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danny-mcbride/my-first-job-was-at-an-amusement-park-in-virginia-it-was-the-worst-i/) [Danny McBride](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danny-mcbride/) > [The Stoics say, "Retire within yourselves; it is there you will find your rest." And that is not true. Others say, "Go out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blaise-pascal/the-stoics-say-retire-within-yourselves-it-is-there-you-will-find/) [Blaise Pascal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blaise-pascal/) > [I realized, "Gee, you're making the same film over and over here." I just kept making them for my own amusement, but also with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-jarmusch/i-realized-gee-you-re-making-the-same-film-over-and-over-here-i-just/) [Jim Jarmusch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-jarmusch/) > [I like these boots," I told Vayl. "Do you think they'd sell them to me cheap? I keep ruining mine." "Since when do you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-rardin/i-like-these-boots-i-told-vayl-do-you-think-they-d-sell-them-to-me/) [Jennifer Rardin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-rardin/) > [It has to be now,” he insisted, a flick of amusement in his voice. He nudged his burgeoning loins against her. “After all, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-kleypas/it-has-to-be-now-he-insisted-a-flick-of-amusement-in-his-voice-he/) [Lisa Kleypas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-kleypas/) > [Act as if the universe is a prodigious miracle created for your amusement and illumination. Assume that secret helpers are working behind the scenes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-brezsny/act-as-if-the-universe-is-a-prodigious-miracle-created-for-your/) [Rob Brezsny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-brezsny/) > [Amusement that is excessive and followed only for its own sake, allures and deceives us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blaise-pascal/amusement-that-is-excessive-and-followed-only-for-its-own-sake/) [Blaise Pascal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blaise-pascal/) [Browse all 567 Amusement quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amusement/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The happy life is regarded as a life in conformity with virtue. 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