“Virtue is the only good, and vice is the only evil.”
— Zeno of CitiumStoic doctrine reported as Zeno's, in Diogenes Laertius 7.101-103 and Stobaeus; approximate English rendering
Commentary
This formulation expresses the Stoic principle that only moral qualities are good or bad in the strict sense, while health, wealth, and pleasure are indifferent in themselves. Diogenes Laertius reports the doctrine in his account of Stoic ethics, and its association with Zeno reflects the school's foundational commitments. A. A. Long and D. N. Sedley, in The Hellenistic Philosophers, explain how the principle depends on a distinction between what is good and what is merely preferred, and they note that the Stoics accepted the paradox that virtue alone is good. Brad Inwood's study of early Stoic action theory shows how the principle shaped their account of moral choice, since only assent to rational impressions is genuinely up to us. Malcolm Schofield argues that the principle had political implications, because it made external status irrelevant to moral worth, which supported the Stoic cosmopolitan outlook. Julia Annas observes that critics, including Aristotle's followers, found the thesis counter-intuitive, and the Stoics accepted this cost. The English is an approximation, and the exact wording should be checked in Diogenes Laertius before it is quoted.
Commentary
This formulation expresses the Stoic principle that only moral qualities are good or bad in the strict sense, while health, wealth, and pleasure are indifferent in themselves. Diogenes Laertius reports the doctrine in his account of Stoic ethics, and its association with Zeno reflects the school's foundational commitments. A. A. Long and D. N. Sedley, in The Hellenistic Philosophers, explain how the principle depends on a distinction between what is good and what is merely preferred, and they note that the Stoics accepted the paradox that virtue alone is good. Brad Inwood's study of early Stoic action theory shows how the principle shaped their account of moral choice, since only assent to rational impressions is genuinely up to us. Malcolm Schofield argues that the principle had political implications, because it made external status irrelevant to moral worth, which supported the Stoic cosmopolitan outlook. Julia Annas observes that critics, including Aristotle's followers, found the thesis counter-intuitive, and the Stoics accepted this cost. The English is an approximation, and the exact wording should be checked in Diogenes Laertius before it is quoted.