--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Flourishing is properly the main human…" description: "\"Flourishing is properly the main human end, and flourishing is activity of soul that succeeds in accord with virtue.\" — Ernest Sosa" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aaa/ernest-sosa-12656_accord_flourishing-is-properly-the-main-human-e_2252125.jpg" --- # Flourishing is properly the main human end, and… ![“Flourishing is properly the main human end, and flourishing is activity of soul that succeeds in accord with virtue.” quote by Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aaa/ernest-sosa-12656_accord_flourishing-is-properly-the-main-human-e_2252125.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aaa/ernest-sosa-12656_accord_flourishing-is-properly-the-main-human-e_2252125.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aaa/ernest-sosa-12656_accord_flourishing-is-properly-the-main-human-e_2252125.jpg) > “Flourishing is properly the main human end, and flourishing is activity of soul that succeeds in accord with virtue.” [Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human flourishing is the ultimate goal, achieved through virtuous activity of the soul. **In simple terms:** Living virtuously leads to true flourishing. Key Takeaway Cultivate virtue to achieve fulfillment. Themes ethics human nature well‑being Mood thoughtful inspirational Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - education - career development - personal growth - community service Key Concepts virtue ethics eudaimonia moral psychology Questions to Reflect On - What virtues most support your flourishing? - How do you balance virtue with practical needs? A Different Perspective Virtue alone may not guarantee material security. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Flourishing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flourishing/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) [Spirituality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirituality/) [Success](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/success/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/) ## Related quotes > [Since human good is what humans ought to pursue, the pursuit of interest to Aristotle is then such activity of soul, that which constitutes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/since-human-good-is-what-humans-ought-to-pursue-the-pursuit-of/) [Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) > [It is possible to produce something that is grammatical either by chance or under the supervision of another. To be proficient in grammar, then,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/it-is-possible-to-produce-something-that-is-grammatical-either-by/) [Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) > [The cognitive skills prized by the American educational establishment and measured by achievement tests are only part of what is required for success in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-heckman/the-cognitive-skills-prized-by-the-american-educational-establishment/) [James Heckman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-heckman/) > [“There will be times in your life when things simply have to be replaced because they are tired, broken, worn out, harmful, outdated, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-c-young/there-will-be-times-in-your-life-when-things-simply-have-to-be/) [Susan C. Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-c-young/) > [I remember times when the whole music scene was just flourishing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roscoe-mitchell/i-remember-times-when-the-whole-music-scene-was-just-flourishing/) [Roscoe Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roscoe-mitchell/) > [Flourishing goes beyond happiness, or satisfaction with life. True, people who flourish are happy. But that's not the half of it. Beyond feeling good,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-fredrickson/flourishing-goes-beyond-happiness-or-satisfaction-with-life-true/) [Barbara Fredrickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-fredrickson/) > [A mass of dust, world's momentary slave, Is man, in state of our old Adam made, Soon born to die, soon flourishing to fade.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barnabe-barnes/a-mass-of-dust-world-s-momentary-slave-is-man-in-state-of-our-old/) Barnabe Barnes > [“If they say you will fall, rise. If they say you will fail, succeed. If they say you will break, kept it together. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matshona-dhliwayo/if-they-say-you-will-fall-rise-if-they-say-you-will-fail-succeed-if/) [Matshona Dhliwayo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matshona-dhliwayo/) > [To create a world in which life can flourish and prosper we must replace the values and institutions of capitalism with values and institutions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-korten/to-create-a-world-in-which-life-can-flourish-and-prosper-we-must/) [David Korten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-korten/) > [Flourishing is everyone's birthright. I'm trying to break this hold that being smiley and cheery has on what people think the good life is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-jurvetson/flourishing-is-everyone-s-birthright-i-m-trying-to-break-this-hold/) [Steve Jurvetson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-jurvetson/) > [The heavens are now seen to resemble a luxuriant garden, which contains the greatest variety of productions, in different flourishing beds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-herschel/the-heavens-are-now-seen-to-resemble-a-luxuriant-garden-which/) [William Herschel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-herschel/) > [“I’ve come to think that flourishing consists of putting yourself in situations in which you lose self-consciousness and become fused with other people, experiences,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brooks/i-ve-come-to-think-that-flourishing-consists-of-putting-yourself-in/) [David Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brooks/) > [The economic position is only flourishing on the surface. Germany is in fact dancing on a volcano. If the short-term credits are called in,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustav-stresemann/the-economic-position-is-only-flourishing-on-the-surface-germany-is/) [Gustav Stresemann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustav-stresemann/) > [No government can be strong and flourishing while the national character is weak and degraded. A government must flourish and decay with its subjects;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-robbins-curtis/no-government-can-be-strong-and-flourishing-while-the-national/) [Benjamin Robbins Curtis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-robbins-curtis/) > [A flourishing, morally credible media is a vital component in the maintenance of genuinely public talk, argument about common good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-williams/a-flourishing-morally-credible-media-is-a-vital-component-in-the/) [Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-williams/) ## More by Ernest Sosa > [Philosophers need not much use the word 'intuition' or the concept of intuition, except when they happen to be working on the epistemology of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/philosophers-need-not-much-use-the-word-intuition-or-the-concept-of/) [Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) > [When you dream, your perceptual (and other) competence is affected. You are then unable to get it right competently with the beliefs in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/when-you-dream-your-perceptual-and-other-competence-is-affected-you/) [Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) > [Ultimately, my more significant agreement is with a virtue tradition that features Aristotle and Descartes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/ultimately-my-more-significant-agreement-is-with-a-virtue-tradition/) [Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) > [It is bad to want something that not even God could attain, especially when the impossibility becomes obvious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/it-is-bad-to-want-something-that-not-even-god-could-attain-especially/) [Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) > [I am mainly concerned with unqualified knowledge, by contrast with the varieties of expert knowledge: scientific knowledge of various sorts, legal knowledge, medically expert…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/i-am-mainly-concerned-with-unqualified-knowledge-by-contrast-with-the/) [Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) > [If a shot aimed at aptness succeeds aptly, it is then fully apt, since it is not only apt but also aptly apt. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/if-a-shot-aimed-at-aptness-succeeds-aptly-it-is-then-fully-apt-since/) [Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) > [It is also certain that when we assent to some piece of reasoning when our perception of it is lacking, then either we go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/it-is-also-certain-that-when-we-assent-to-some-piece-of-reasoning/) [Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) > [We need some standard that will determine how likely a belief is to be true given just that it is stored in one of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/we-need-some-standard-that-will-determine-how-likely-a-belief-is-to/) [Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) > [Descartes's epistemology is a special case of Aristotle's virtue ethics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/descartes-s-epistemology-is-a-special-case-of-aristotle-s-virtue/) [Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) > [There isn't a formal definition of success.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/there-isn-t-a-formal-definition-of-success/) [Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) > [Success is better than failure; an attempt is a better attempt, it is better as an attempt, if competent than if incompetent; and it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/success-is-better-than-failure-an-attempt-is-a-better-attempt-it-is/) [Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) > [Judgment is affirmation with the intention to thereby affirm competently enough, and indeed aptly. That distinguishes judgments from mere guesses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/judgment-is-affirmation-with-the-intention-to-thereby-affirm/) [Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) > [Any defense of common sense must allow that it is revisable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/any-defense-of-common-sense-must-allow-that-it-is-revisable/) [Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) > [Given its more substantial aim, a judgment is apt only if its constitutive alethic affirmation is not only apt but aptly apt. The subject…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/given-its-more-substantial-aim-a-judgment-is-apt-only-if-its/) [Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) > [We can pursue the Cartesian project without restricting ourselves to theology and a priori faculties. A better, broader perspective is properly sought if we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/we-can-pursue-the-cartesian-project-without-restricting-ourselves-to/) [Ernest Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) [Explore all 54 Ernest Sosa quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/) ## 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. 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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": "Flourishing is properly the main human end, and flourishing is activity of soul that succeeds in accord with virtue.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ernest Sosa" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/flourishing-is-properly-the-main-human-end-and-flourishing-is/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Accord" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/flourishing-is-properly-the-main-human-end-and-flourishing-is/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aaa/ernest-sosa-12656_accord_flourishing-is-properly-the-main-human-e_2252125.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aaa/ernest-sosa-12656_accord_flourishing-is-properly-the-main-human-e_2252125.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aaa/ernest-sosa-12656_accord_flourishing-is-properly-the-main-human-e_2252125.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Flourishing is properly the main human end, and flourishing is activity of soul that succeeds in accord with…” — Ernest Sosa", "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": "Ernest Sosa", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-sosa/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Flourishing is properly the main human...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/flourishing-is-properly-the-main-human-end-and-flourishing-is/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-sosa/flourishing-is-properly-the-main-human-end-and-flourishing-is/#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 } } ] } ```