Now if we must see the end and only then call a man happy, not as being happy but as having been so before, surely this is a paradox, that when he is happy the attribute that belongs to him is not to be truly predicated of him because we do not wish to call living men happy, on account of the changes that may befall them, and because we have assumed happiness to be something permanent and by no means easily changed, while a single man may suffer many turns of fortune's wheel.
Esate baterako, helburua ikusi behar baldin bada eta orduantxe banako bakoitza dohatsutzat hartu-dohatsua ez une jakin horretan izateagatik, iraganean izan zelako baizik-, nola ez da lekuz kanpokoa izango norbait zoriontsua izaten denean (35) norbait horren zoriontasunari buruz egia ez esatea, (1100b) bizirik daudenak zoriontsutzat hartu nahi ez izateagatik-bizitza oso aldakorra dela eta zoriontasuna, berriz, erraz inolaz ere aldatzen ez den zerbait egonkorra dela uste izateagatik-, halabeharrak gizakien inguruan etengabe jira-biran ari diren bitartean?