We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- People become what they do repeatedly, so excellence is a habit rather than a single action.
- In plain terms
- Habits shape who you are, not single acts.
- What can you take from it?
- Build good habits to become excellent.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What habits define you?
- How to build excellence?
Another view
One-off actions can sometimes matter more than habits.
More from Aristotle
The greatest crimes are not those committed for the sake of necessity but those committed for the sake of superfluity. One does not become a tyrant to avoid ex…
Permalink to quote #170 Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth.
Permalink to quote #172 The trade of the petty usurer is hated with most reason: it makes a profit from currency itself, instead of making it from the process which currency was meant…
Permalink to quote #169
Related quotes
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is a habit.
SocratesSocrates quote #90 ...action restarting action: all we need to reverse inertia is some sense of consequence - some sense that beyond this occurrence there is another, and that th…
David BaddielDavid Baddiel quote #1 We are defined by how we use our power.
Gerry SpenceGerry Spence quote #1