The Nicomachean Ethics - Opening

BOOK A

1

Every art and every inquiry, and similarly, every action and every intention is thought to aim at some good; hence men have expressed themselves well in declaring the good to be that at which all things aim. But there appears to be a difference among the ends; for some are activities, others are products apart from the [activities which produce them]. Whenever there are ends apart from the actions [which produce them], the products are by nature better than the corresponding activities.