Aristotle on High-mindedness from Nicomachean Ethics IV.3

    The very name "high-mindedness" (lit. "great-souled-ness") suggests that it is concerned with great things.  Let us first determine what sort of things these are.  Now it makes no difference whether we consider the state of the soul itself or the man who is in this state.  The high-minded man seems to be the one who thinks he deserves greats things and does deserve them.  The man who does this without deserving them is foolish, but the one who does this because of his excellence is not foolish or senseless.  Such is the high-minded man.  For the man who deserves small things and thinks he deserves these is temperate, but not high-minded.  For high-mindedness is concerned with great things, just as beauty resides in a body of great stature, and small people are cute and well-proportioned, but cannot be beautiful.  
    The man who thinks he deserves great things, but does not, is vain.   But the man who thinks he deserves greater things than he does is not in every case vain.  The man who thinks he deserves less than he does is small-minded, whether he deserves great things or middling things; indeed even if, though he deserves little, he thinks he deserves even less.   But this small-mindedness seems most of all to apply to the man who deserves great things.  For what would he do, if he were not deserving of such great things?  Well then, the high-minded man represents an extreme in greatness, but a mean in regard to how he ought to judge himself.  For he thinks he deserves what in fact he does deserve.  Others exceed the mean or fall short of it.  
    Now if he judges his deserts accurately, and he deserves the greatest thing, high-mindedness would be concerned pretty much with one thing: desert is expressed in relation to external goods, and the greatest is what we attribute to the gods and what those held in honor most desire, and this is the prize appointed for the noblest deeds, and honor is this sort of thing.  For it is the greatest of the external goods.  The high-minded man is concerned with honor and dishonor as is appropriate.  There appears to be no argument that the high-minded man is concerned with honor, since great men think they deserve honor most of all, and rightly so.  But the small-minded man falls short both with respect to himself and with respect to the value of the high-minded man.  The vain man exceeds with respect to himself, but certainly not with respect to the high-minded man.  The high-minded man, since he deserves the best, would be the best man.  Necessarily, therefore, the genuinely high-minded man is good.  
    Greatness in each excellence would seem to be a mark of the high-minded man.  It is wholly inconsistent with the high-minded man to fly in headlong haste or to commit injustice.  For why would he act disgracefully, since nothing is of great consequence to him.  When we investigate each particular case, the high-minded man would appear completely ridiculous if he were not good: if he were a scoundrel he would not be worthy of honor.  For honor is the prize of excellence and is awarded to the good.  So high-mindedness seems like a sort of jewel on the crown of excellences.  For it makes them greater and does not arise without them.  On account of this it is difficult to be truly high-minded, since it is not possible without being a gentleman.  
    Well now, the high-minded man is most of all concerned with honor and dishonor and he will take moderate delight in great honors conferred by upstanding men because these are what is appropriate to him or even less than appropriate.  For the honor granted to complete excellence can never be sufficient.  Much rather, he will accept it, because they have nothing greater to offer him.  He will wholly despise the honor of any chance person or the honor for small deeds.  For he is not deserving merely of these things.  Similarly in the case of dishonor, since in his case it cannot be just.  Now, as has been said, the high-minded man is most of all concerned with honor, but he will also be in a mean state concerning how to attain wealth and power and good and bad fortune in general; nor in good fortune will he exult excessively nor be dejected in bad fortune.  Nor will he be concerned with honor as if this were the greatest thing.  For political offices and wealth are choiceworthy on account of the honor they bring.  At any rate those who have them want to be honored through them.  And he for whom honor is a small matter, these other things also are small matters.  For this reason high-minded men seem to be disdainful.   
    Good fortune seems to contribute to high-mindedness, since the well-born and the powerful or rich are thought to deserve honor.  For they are in a condition of extreme and what is extreme in goodness is everywhere more honorable.  Wherefore such circumstances make men more high-minded, since they are honored by some people.  But in truth only the good man should be honored.  But he who has both things is thought more deserving of honor.  But those who enjoy such good fortune without excellence do not deserve great things nor are they properly called high-minded.  For without complete excellence high-mindedness does not exist.  Those who have such fortune become disdainful and insulting.  For it is not easy to endure good fortune without excellence.  And those who cannot endure it and think that they surpass others hold them in contempt and live their life at random.  But the high-minded man is right to hold others in contempt (for his opinion is correct), but the majority of people do it at random
    He neither runs small risks nor does he court danger , since there are few things that he holds in honor.  But he does run great risks and whenever he runs a risk, he is unsparing of his life, because it is not worth living at all costs.  His character is to confer benefits, but he is ashamed to accept them, the former being the mark of one who is superior, the latter of one inferior.  He returns favors with greater favors.  Thus his creditor will become his debtor and will have been benefited.  He seems also to remember those whom he has benefited, but not those by whom he has been benefited, since the beneficary is inferior to the benefactor, and he wants to be superior.  So he likes to be reminded of the one, but not the other.  For this reason Thetis did not mention her favor to Zeus, nor the Spartans to the Athenians, but rather the benefits they had received.      
    It is the mark of the high-minded man to ask for nothing or little, but to be eager to serve, and to be dignified towards those in power and fortune, and unassuming towards the middle class.  For it is difficult and admirable to be superior to the former group, but easy to be superior to the latter group, and it is not ignoble to be reverenced by the former, but cheap to be reverenced by the common people, just as to display strength against the weak.  
    It is also a mark of the high-minded man not to go in for every honorable enterprise, nor those in which others are preeminent, but to be behind-hand and hesitant except where there is great honor and labor, and to be a doer of few things, but great and renowned.  
    He must also be clear in his likes and dislikes, since to hide these is the mark of a coward; also to love the truth more than reputation, and to speak and act openly.  For he exercises free speech because of his contempt.  For this reason he is a speaker of the truth except when he speaks ironically, and he speaks ironically to the masses.  
    He is also unable to live with another except as a friend, since to live otherwise is servile.  For this reason all flatterers are base and all the base are flatterers.  
    Nor is he given to hold anything in wonder, since nothing is great to him.  Nor does he remember evil.  For it is not the mark of a high-minded man to hold a grudge, but rather to overlook a bad turn.  Nor is he a gossip, since he will speak neither of himself nor others.  Nor does he care to be praised nor that others should be blamed.  Nor again is he quick to bestow praise.   For this reason he is not given to speak evil of anyone, not even of his enemies, unless he means to give offense.  
    Concerning what cannot be avoided and small matters he is not querulous nor does he beg for help.  For it is the mark of a man who thinks them important to behave in this way.  And he is the kind of person to be in possession of beautiful and useless things rather than useful and profitable things.  For that is more the mark of a self-sufficient man.  
    The movements of a high-minded man seem to be slow; his voice is deep and his speech measured.  For the man who thinks few things important is not likely to hasten, nor the one who thinks nothing great to be excited.