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[3]
Goodwill seems therefore to be the beginning of friendship, just as the pleasure of the
eye is the beginning of love. No one falls in love without first being charmed by beauty,
but one may delight in another's beauty without necessarily being in love: one is in love
only if one longs for the beloved when absent, and eagerly desires his presence. Similarly
men cannot be friends without having conceived mutual goodwill, though well-wishers are
not necessarily friends: they merely desire the good of those whose well-wishers they are,
and would not actively assist them to attain it, nor be put to any trouble on their
behalf. Hence extending the meaning of the term friendship we may say that goodwill is
inoperative friendship, which when it continues and reaches the point of intimacy may
become friendship proper—not the sort of friendship whose motive is utility or
pleasure, for these do not arouse goodwill. Goodwill is indeed rendered in return for
favors received, but this is merely the payment of a due; and that desire for an other's
welfare which springs from the anticipation of favors to come does not seem really to show
goodwill for one's benefactor, but rather for oneself; just as to court a man for some
interested motive is not friendship.
Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 19, translated by H. Rackham. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1934.
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