Full Idea
We become just by performing just acts, temperate by performing temperate ones, brave by performing brave ones.
Gist of Idea
We acquire virtues by habitually performing good deeds
Source
Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1103b01)
Book Reference
Aristotle: 'Ethics (Nicomachean)', ed/tr. ThomsonJ A K/TredennickH [Penguin 1976], p.91
A Reaction
This is the circularity which is sometimes criticised, but seems to be benign. When two good things reinforce one another, that is not a vicious circle.