--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Therefore the good man ought to be a…" description: "\"Therefore the good man ought to be a lover of self, since he will then both benefit himself by acting nobly and aid his fellows; but the bad man ought ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/30c/aristotle-78_accord_therefore-the-good-man-ought-to-be-a-lov_1138731.png" --- # Therefore the good man ought to be a lover of self, since… ![“Therefore the good man ought to be a lover of self, since he will then both benefit himself by acting nobly and aid his fellows; but the bad man ought not to be a lover of self, since he will follow his base passions, and so injure both himself and his neighbors. With the bad man therefore, what…” quote by Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/30c/aristotle-78_accord_therefore-the-good-man-ought-to-be-a-lov_1138731.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/30c/aristotle-78_accord_therefore-the-good-man-ought-to-be-a-lov_1138731.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/30c/aristotle-78_accord_therefore-the-good-man-ought-to-be-a-lov_1138731.png) > “Therefore the good man ought to be a lover of self, since he will then both benefit himself by acting nobly and aid his fellows; but the bad man ought not to be a lover of self, since he will follow his base passions, and so injure both himself and his neighbors. With the bad man therefore, what he does is not in accord with what he ought to do, but the good man does what he ought, since intelligence always chooses for itself that which is best, and the good man obeys his intelligence.” [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 person loves himself wisely, aligning actions with virtue, while a bad person follows base desires harming self and others. **In simple terms:** Virtuous self‑love leads to good deeds; selfishness harms all. Key Takeaway Cultivate wise self‑interest. Themes ethics self‑love virtue social responsibility Mood instructive thoughtful Type philosophical ethical When to use this quote - leadership - personal development - community building - conflict resolution Key Concepts eudaimonia rationality moral psychology Questions to Reflect On - What does wise self‑love look like for you? - How can you balance personal good with communal good? A Different Perspective Self‑love can become egoism if not guided by reason. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Acting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/acting/) [Good man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-man/) [Lover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lover/) [Lovers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lovers/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Neighbor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/neighbor/) [Passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passion/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) ## Related quotes > [No woman ought to pretend she's intelligent. And if she is she ought to have the intelligence to pretend she isn't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-ferber/no-woman-ought-to-pretend-she-s-intelligent-and-if-she-is-she-ought/) [Edna Ferber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-ferber/) > [People should think less about what they ought to do and more about what they ought to be. If only their being were good,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meister-eckhart/people-should-think-less-about-what-they-ought-to-do-and-more-about/) [Meister Eckhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meister-eckhart/) > [“It is not enough for the phrases to be good., what you make with them ought to be good too.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/it-is-not-enough-for-the-phrases-to-be-good-what-you-make-with-them/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [Liars ought to have good memories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/algernon-sydney-logan/liars-ought-to-have-good-memories/) Algernon Sydney Logan > [If 10 percent is good enough for the Lord, it ought to be good enough for Uncle Sam.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-broun/if-10-percent-is-good-enough-for-the-lord-it-ought-to-be-good-enough/) [Paul Broun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-broun/) > [A liar did ought to have a good memory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flora-thompson/a-liar-did-ought-to-have-a-good-memory/) [Flora Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flora-thompson/) > [For life its like a good accent one ought for a good language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiwuuwa-calorus-jos16/for-life-its-like-a-good-accent-one-ought-for-a-good-language/) Kiwuuwa Calorus Jos16 > [After all, what's good enough for Austen ought to be good enough for anyone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-ann-shaffer/after-all-what-s-good-enough-for-austen-ought-to-be-good-enough-for/) [Mary Ann Shaffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-ann-shaffer/) > [I am not as good as I ought to be. I am not as good as I want to be. I am not as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-wooden/i-am-not-as-good-as-i-ought-to-be-i-am-not-as-good-as-i-want-to-be-i/) [John Wooden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-wooden/) > [A liar ought to have a good memory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/quintilian/a-liar-ought-to-have-a-good-memory/) [Quintilian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/quintilian/) > [“What a delightful library you have at Pemberley, Mr. Darcy!” “It ought to be good,” he replied, “it has been the work of many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/what-a-delightful-library-you-have-at-pemberley-mr-darcy-it-ought-to/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/we-ought-to-do-good-to-others-as-simply-as-a-horse-runs-or-a-bee/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [“But that doesn’t seem enough. It’s not enough for the phrases to be good; what you make with them ought to be good too.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/but-that-doesn-t-seem-enough-it-s-not-enough-for-the-phrases-to-be/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [What is a good enough principle for an American citizen ought to be good enough for the working man to follow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/what-is-a-good-enough-principle-for-an-american-citizen-ought-to-be/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If every tool, when ordered, or even of its own accord, could do the work that befits it... then there would be no need…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/if-every-tool-when-ordered-or-even-of-its-own-accord-could-do-the/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) ## 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 Accord quotes > [To an ever greater extent out experience is governed by pictures, pictures in newspapers and magazines, on television and in the cinema. Next to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-crimp/to-an-ever-greater-extent-out-experience-is-governed-by-pictures/) [Douglas Crimp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-crimp/) > [Society understands the architecture of academia and knows there are relevant qualifications in different fields, and the media accepts the idea of specialisations and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-griffiths/society-understands-the-architecture-of-academia-and-knows-there-are/) [Jay Griffiths](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-griffiths/) > [Christian obligation cannot be made to accord with a law of expediency. The Christian's maxims are, Do right because you are bound to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-landey-patton/christian-obligation-cannot-be-made-to-accord-with-a-law-of/) Francis Landey Patton > [I've never had a very quiet voice. I tried in choir to make it smaller, and it just didn't work out. And I listened…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-ditto/i-ve-never-had-a-very-quiet-voice-i-tried-in-choir-to-make-it-smaller/) [Beth Ditto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-ditto/) > [It is a very high mind to which gratitude is not a painful sensation. If you wish to please, you will find it wiser…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-bulwer-lytton-1st-baron-lytton/it-is-a-very-high-mind-to-which-gratitude-is-not-a-painful-sensation/) [Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-bulwer-lytton-1st-baron-lytton/) > [To act choicelessly is to act in accord with the situation. If someone throws a rock, you duck.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rami-m-shapiro/to-act-choicelessly-is-to-act-in-accord-with-the-situation-if-someone/) [Rami M. Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rami-m-shapiro/) > [“I'm not here to grant you the extraordinary love you never had for yourself. I'm here, on my own accord, to love you. So…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamand-kojouri/i-m-not-here-to-grant-you-the-extraordinary-love-you-never-had-for/) [Kamand Kojouri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamand-kojouri/) > [It is a misfortune that necessity has induced men to accord greater license to this formidable engine, in order to obtain liberty, than can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-f-cooper/it-is-a-misfortune-that-necessity-has-induced-men-to-accord-greater/) [James F. Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-f-cooper/) > [Life is a cutup. And to pretend that you write or paint in a timeless vacuum is just simply . . . not .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/life-is-a-cutup-and-to-pretend-that-you-write-or-paint-in-a-timeless/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [The dominant propaganda systems have appropriated the term "globalization" to refer to the specific version of international economic integration that they favor, which privileges…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-dominant-propaganda-systems-have-appropriated-the-term/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [If you want to accord with the Tao, just do your job, then let go.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laozi/if-you-want-to-accord-with-the-tao-just-do-your-job-then-let-go/) [Laozi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laozi/) > [The fineness which a hymn or psalm affords / If when the soul unto the lines accords.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-herbert/the-fineness-which-a-hymn-or-psalm-affords-if-when-the-soul-unto-the/) [George Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-herbert/) > [A covenant is an agreement between God and man, an accord whose terms are set by God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-todd-christofferson/a-covenant-is-an-agreement-between-god-and-man-an-accord-whose-terms/) [D. Todd Christofferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-todd-christofferson/) > [All day I think about it, then at night I say it. Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/all-day-i-think-about-it-then-at-night-i-say-it-where-did-i-come-from/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/all-art-is-at-once-surface-and-symbol-those-who-go-beneath-the/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) Browse all 406 Accord quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Therefore the good man ought to be a lover of self, since he will then both benefit himself by acting nobly and aid his fellows; but the bad man ought not to be a lover of self, since he will follow his base passions, and so injure both himself and his neighbors. With the bad man therefore, what he does is not in accord with what he ought to do, but the good man does what he ought, since intelligence always chooses for itself that which is best, and the good man obeys his intelligence.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Aristotle" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/therefore-the-good-man-ought-to-be-a-lover-of-self-since-he-will-then/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Accord" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/therefore-the-good-man-ought-to-be-a-lover-of-self-since-he-will-then/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/30c/aristotle-78_accord_therefore-the-good-man-ought-to-be-a-lov_1138731.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/30c/aristotle-78_accord_therefore-the-good-man-ought-to-be-a-lov_1138731.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/30c/aristotle-78_accord_therefore-the-good-man-ought-to-be-a-lov_1138731.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Therefore the good man ought to be a lover of self, since he will then both benefit himself by acting nobly…” — Aristotle", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Aristotle", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Therefore the good man ought to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/therefore-the-good-man-ought-to-be-a-lover-of-self-since-he-will-then/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/therefore-the-good-man-ought-to-be-a-lover-of-self-since-he-will-then/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```