Greatness of Soul
idea · 4 works · 5 mentions · 11 anchored passages
greatness of soul · magnanimity · a certain raising of the mind · great-souled man
in the texts
Nicomachean Ethics
The virtue of observing the mean in respect of great honor and dishonor.
In respect of honor and dishonor, the observance of the mean is Greatness of Soul, the excess a sort of Vanity, as it may be called, and the deficiency, Smallness of Soul.
And just as we said that Liberality is related to Magnificence, differing from it in being concerned with small amounts of money, so there is a certain quality related to Greatness of Soul, which is concerned with great honors, while this quality itself is concerned with small honors;
He that claims much but does not deserve much is vain;
On Virtues and Vices
The virtue of the whole soul concerning right response to fortune and honour
There follow upon greatness of soul simplicity and truthfulness.
and the virtues of the soul as a whole are justice, liberality, and greatness of soul.
Greatness of soul is the virtue of the soul by which a man is able to bear good fortune and ill fortune, honour and dishonour.
Tusculan Disputations
A lofty elevation of mind especially manifest in scorning and despising pains.
that greatness of soul, and a certain raising, as it were, of the mind to the loftiest height, which most of all stands forth in the contemning and despising of pains, is the one most beautiful thing of all — and the more beautiful, if it be free of the crowd and, not catching at applause, yet delight in itself.
On the Steadfastness of the Wise Man
The virtue of greatness of soul, named as the wise man's chief resource against insult.
Moreover, since insults are for the most part the work of the proud and insolent, and of those who bear good fortune ill, the wise man has wherewith to repel that puffed-up feeling—the fairest of all virtues, magnanimity.