The pursuit of happiness needs external goods as well. Happiness is the god-like prize of a virtuous life. It follows, then, that the happy person has the stability we are looking for and keeps the character he has throughout his life. For always, or more than anything else, he will do and study the actions expressing virtue, and will bear fortunes most finely, in every way and in all conditions appropriately, since he is truly 'good, foursquare and blameless'. For we believe that the truly good and wise man bears all his fortunes with dignity and always takes the most honourable course that circumstances permit.
Happiness is earned by remaining virtuous even in the face of adversity .
We are now in a position to define the happy man as 'one who is active in accordance with complete virtue, and who is adequately furnished with external goods, and that not for some unspecified period but throughout a complete life'. For us it is clear that, from what has been said already, that happiness is one of those things that are precious and perfect. Happiness is a first principle and therefore it is precious and divine . The virtue we must examine is human virtue, since we are also seeking the human good and human happiness. And by human virtue we mean virtue of the soul, not of the body, since we also say that happiness is an activity of the soul.