“The happiest person has a healthy body, a well-endowed soul, and good fortune.”
— Thales of MiletusReported in Diogenes Laertius 1.35 among the sayings attributed to Thales; approximate English rendering
Commentary
This reply, transmitted among the sayings of the Seven Sages, offers a threefold account of happiness: health of body, excellence of soul, and fortune. The formula is a common Greek view that happiness depends on both internal and external goods, and it anticipates the later Aristotelian discussion of the external conditions of eudaimonia. A. A. Long notes that the sages' sayings often presented balanced accounts of happiness, and that this one shares that structure. G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven, and M. Schofield caution that the saying is preserved in late doxography and cannot be assigned to Thales with confidence. Charles Kahn argues that the emphasis on health and fortune reflects a traditional Greek ethic rather than a specifically Milesian doctrine. Jonathan Barnes observes that the threefold division may be a later systematisation. W. K. C. Guthrie treats the saying as an early statement of a view that Aristotle later refined. The English is an approximation, and the Greek should be consulted before quotation.
Commentary
This reply, transmitted among the sayings of the Seven Sages, offers a threefold account of happiness: health of body, excellence of soul, and fortune. The formula is a common Greek view that happiness depends on both internal and external goods, and it anticipates the later Aristotelian discussion of the external conditions of eudaimonia. A. A. Long notes that the sages' sayings often presented balanced accounts of happiness, and that this one shares that structure. G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven, and M. Schofield caution that the saying is preserved in late doxography and cannot be assigned to Thales with confidence. Charles Kahn argues that the emphasis on health and fortune reflects a traditional Greek ethic rather than a specifically Milesian doctrine. Jonathan Barnes observes that the threefold division may be a later systematisation. W. K. C. Guthrie treats the saying as an early statement of a view that Aristotle later refined. The English is an approximation, and the Greek should be consulted before quotation.