The Book of Aristotle 2 · Handed down at the Lyceum, taken from his own writings
He is not a witness. He never saw the Teacher; he was the student of a student. This book does not record his life, only what he wrote in his own books — the Order wants words that can be checked, not a name that can be quoted.
2.1Every virtue lies between two extremes.
2.2Courage lies between recklessness and cowardice; generosity between extravagance and meanness.
2.3Deficiency is a vice, and excess is a vice. The middle is the virtue.
2.4But the middle is not the arithmetical middle.
2.5If ten pounds is too much and two is too little, the trainer does not prescribe six to everyone. What suits the wrestler does not suit the beginner.
2.6The mean is the mean relative to you, not a number that is the same for all.
2.7I know my two predecessors quarrelled over this beneath the Painted Stoa. (cf. Acts 5)
2.8One said: the highest sovereignty is to need nothing at all.
2.9One said: taste the sweetness of the world and be enslaved by none of it.
2.10I say: they were not quarrelling about a principle. They were quarrelling about a quantity — and quantities differ from person to person.
2.11The old woman was right: he never taught you how much to take. (cf. Acts 5.15)
2.12I add one thing: that he did not teach it does not mean it cannot be sought. How much is a thing one can learn to judge. That is why virtue is a craft and not a piece of luck.
2.13But one thing must be said plainly: not everything has a mean.
2.14Betrayal has no proper measure. Murder has no middle amount.
2.15Whoever applies "all things in moderation" to that kind of thing is not seeking the mean. He is looking for an excuse.