← The Collection
philosophy · Ethics · self-improvement
““I have sometimes considered in what troublesome case is that Chamberlain in an Inn who being but one is to give attendance to many guests. For suppose them all in one chamber, yet, if one shall command him to come to the window, and the other to the table, and another to the bed, and another to the chimney, and another to come upstairs, and another to go downstairs, and all in the same instant, how would he be distracted to please them all? And yet such is the sad condition of nay soul by nature, not only a servant but a slave unto sin. Pride calls me to the window, gluttony to the table, wantonness to the bed, laziness to the chimney, ambition commands me to go upstairs, and covetousness to come down. Vices, I see, are as well contrary to themselves as to Virtue.””
Nicomachean Ethics, Book 9, Section 1·384-322 BCE

The voice behind the line
Aristotle
アリストテレス
384-322 BCE · Peripatetic Philosophy
Greek philosopher and polymath.
More passages from Aristotle →Book links are Amazon Japan affiliate links. Yomitashi may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.