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Aristotle is among the three greatest philosophers in history. Through his followers in the Catholic Church (principally St. Thomas Aquinas) and their widespread distribution of his ideas, Aristotle is arguably the most influential western thinker of all time. A friend sent me this quote from Aristotle, which prompts today's post.
Excellence is an art won by training and habituation...We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
After reading this quote I thought about how many people I have met in almost sixty years who consistently practice excellence. I came up with three people--an MIT professor, the sender of the quote and my wife. When I thought about what all three had in common I concluded as follows:
- Very high intelligence
- The ability to think at both the conceptual level and the smallest level of detail
- A belief that rigor has its own value regardless of pursuit (which is what permits excellence to permeate many parts of their life)
They all are immaculate dressers but I think this is just a symptom of their pursuit of excellence :) Hard to tell if Aristotle was a sharp dresser but he also practiced excellence.
