Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
H. Rackham, Ed.

An involuntary action being one done under compulsion or through ignorance, a voluntary act would seem to be an act of which the origin lies in the agent, who knows the particular circumstances in which he is acting. 1. [21] For it is probably a mistake to say¹ that acts caused by anger or by desire are involuntary. 1. [22] In the first place, （1） if we do so, we can no longer say that any of the lower animals act voluntarily, or children either. 1. [23] Then （2） are none of our actions that are caused by desire or anger voluntary, or are the noble ones voluntary and the base involuntary? Surely this is an absurd distinction when one person is the author of both. 1. [24] Yet perhaps it is strange to speak of acts aiming at things which it is right to aim at as involuntary; and it is right to feel anger at some things, and also to feel desire for some things, for instance health, knowledge. 1. [25] Also （3） we think that involuntary actions are painful and actions that gratify desire pleasant. 1. [26] And again （4） what difference is there in respect of their involuntary character between wrong acts committed deliberately and wrong acts done in anger? 1. [27] Both are to be avoided;