We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act but a habit.

This line is widely circulated under Will Durant’s name, but it is best understood as Durant’s paraphrase of an Aristotelian idea rather than a verbatim ancient quotation. Durant popularized it in the context of summarizing Aristotle’s ethics for modern readers—especially the notion that virtue (and thus excellence) is formed through repeated practice and habituation. The wording most commonly attributed to Durant appears in his 1926 book *The Story of Philosophy*, in the chapter discussing Aristotle and the formation of character through habit. Over time, the paraphrase has often been misattributed directly to Aristotle or quoted without noting Durant’s intermediary role.

The quotation argues that character is not defined by isolated intentions or one-off achievements but by patterns of behavior. “Excellence” here means moral and practical virtue—being good at living well—rather than a single impressive performance. The claim shifts attention from dramatic acts to daily discipline: repeated choices shape dispositions, and dispositions become identity. It also implies that improvement is accessible through practice; one cultivates excellence the way one builds a skill, by consistent repetition until it becomes second nature. In ethical terms, it echoes Aristotle’s view that virtues are acquired through habituation, not merely by knowing what is right.

1) “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
2) “We are what we repeatedly do; excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.”
3) “Excellence is not an act but a habit.”