Thoughts on Truth - Philosophy

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The bad man, if he is being brought into a better way of life and thought, may make some advance, however slight, and if he should once improve, even ever so little, it is plain that he might change completely, or at any rate make very great progress; for a man becomes more and more easily moved to virtue, however small the improvement was at first. It is, therefore, natural to suppose that he will make yet greater progress than he has made in the past; and as this process goes on, it will change him completely and establish him in the contrary state, provided he is not hindered by lack of time. 13a Categories 10. 13a23

Pg. 33 13b 36 That the contrary of a good is an evil is shown by induction: the contrary of health is disease, of courage, cowardice, and so on. But the contrary of an evil is sometimes a good, sometimes an evil. For defect, which is an evil, has excess for its contrary, this also being an evil, and the mean, which is a good, is equally the contrary of the one and of the other. It is only in a few cases, however, that we see instances of this: in most, the contrary of an evil is a good. - Categories 11. 13b36

pg. 204 When, however, the initial step in discovery has been made, it is easier to add to it and develop the rest. And this is just what happened in rhetorical composition, and also with practically all the other arts. Those who made the initial discoveries in all cases progressed just a little way, whereas the famous modern practitioners of the art, entering into the inheritance, one might say, of a long series of predecessors who had gradually advanced it, have brought it to its present perfection. - Sophistical Refutations 183b28-34 = A2

pg. 293 Moderation is good; for licentiousness is harmful. - Rhetoric II 23, 1397a 7-12

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