Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
H. Rackham, Ed.

since to do so is slavish, and hence flatterers are always servile, and humble people flatterers. 3. [30] He is not prone to admiration, since nothing is great to him. He does not bear a grudge, for it is not a mark of greatness of soul to recall things against people, especially the wrongs they have done you, but rather to overlook them. 3. [31] He is no gossip, for he will not talk either about himself or about another, as he neither wants to receive compliments nor to hear other people run down （nor is he lavish of praise either）; and so he is not given to speaking evil himself, even of his enemies, except when he deliberately intends to give offence. 3. [32] In troubles that cannot be avoided or trifling mishaps he will never cry out or ask for help, since to do so would imply that he took them to heart. 3. [33] He likes to own beautiful and useless things, rather than useful things that bring in a return, since the former show his independence more.3. [34]

Other traits generally attributed to the great-souled man are a slow gait, a deep voice, and a deliberate utterance; to speak in shrill tones and walk fast denotes an excitable and nervous temperament, which does not belong to one who cares for few things and thinks nothing great.3. [35]

Such then being the Great-souled man, the corresponding character on the side of deficiency is the Small-souled man, and on that of excess the Vain man. These also¹ are not thought to be actually vicious, since they do no harm, but rather mistaken. The small-souled man deprives himself of the good things that he deserves; and his failure to claim good things makes it seem that he has something bad about him [and also that he does not know himself],² for （people argue）, if he deserved any good, he would try to obtain it. Not that such persons are considered foolish, but rather too retiring; yet this estimate of them is thought to make them still worse, for men's ambitions show what they are worth, and if they hold aloof from noble enterprises and pursuits, and for go the good things of life, presumably they think they are not worthy of them.3. [36]

The vain on the other hand are foolish persons, who are deficient in self-knowledge and expose their defect: they undertake honorable responsibilities of which they are not worthy, and then are found out. They are ostentatious in dress, manner and so on. They want people to know how well off they are, and talk about it,³ imagining that this will make them respected.3. [37]

Smallness of Soul is more opposed than Vanity to Greatness of Soul, being both more prevalent and worse.3. [38]

Greatness of Soul then, as we have said, is concerned with great honors.