In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle lays the groundwork for his perspective on virtue ethics, articulating the relationship between happiness, or eudaimonia, and virtue, or aréte. Aristotle’s particularly unique concept of happiness follows from his belief that happiness is the only end that humans wish to achieve that is purely an end in itself, and not a means as well, rather than an emotional disposition of happiness in the modern understanding of the word. Similarly, the Greek idea of virtue doesn’t have the same connection to duty that it does in English, rather it is most synonymously related to excellence. That is, to be virtuous is to be excellent at what you are. For example, a sharp knife is virtuous because it is good for cutting things;