Single Idea 3031

[catalogued under 23. Ethics / A. Egoism / 1. Ethical Egoism]

Full Idea

Hearing someone assert that the greatest good was to succeed in everything that one desires, he said,"It is a much greater good to desire what is proper".

Gist of Idea

The greatest good is not the achievement of desire, but to desire what is proper

Source

report of Menedemus (fragments/reports [c.310 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 02.16.12

Book Reference

Diogenes Laertius: 'Diogenes Laertius', ed/tr. Yonge,C.D. [Henry G. Bohn 1853], p.109