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Full Idea
We do not speak of an ox or a horse as happy, because none of them can take part in fine deeds; similarly, no child is happy, because its age debars it as yet from such activities.
Gist of Idea
Oxen, horses and children cannot be happy, because they cannot perform fine deeds
Source
Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1099b32)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Ethics (Nicomachean)', ed/tr. ThomsonJ A K/TredennickH [Penguin 1976], p.81
A Reaction
This is a place where 'happy' is not a very good translation for 'eudaimon', as we universally acknowledge a 'happy childhood'. We can have a 'successful' life, but not a successful childhood. I'm not convinced that even Greeks understood 'eudaimonia'.
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| 5845 | Niceratus learnt the whole of Homer by heart, as a guide to goodness [Xenophon] |
| 139 | A good person is bound to act well, and this brings happiness [Plato] |
| 5142 | Oxen, horses and children cannot be happy, because they cannot perform fine deeds [Aristotle] |
| 2689 | Good people enjoy virtuous action, just as musicians enjoy beautiful melodies [Aristotle] |
| 101 | Slaves can't be happy, because they lack freedom [Aristotle] |
| 3562 | Fine things are worthless if they give no pleasure [Epicurus] |
| 7499 | Stoicism was an elitist option to lead a beautiful life [Stoic school, by Foucault] |
| 14815 | We get enormous pleasure from tales of noble actions [Nietzsche] |
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