“For happiness is activity in accordance with virtue.”Aristotel · Politica · -335 · cartea VII, capitolul 8
Happiness isn't received, it's exercised: it's the daily activity of your character at full capacity.
For Aristotle, happiness is not the lucky sensation of pleasure, but eudaimonia: a life lived actively and well. Virtue is not a rule followed passively, but a capacity exercised, like a musician's craft. Someone brave only in thought is not brave. A doctor who uses her skill with competence and justice is happy precisely through exercising it, not through the reward at the end.
Why it matters It corrects the idea that happiness can be bought or waited for: it suggests it is built through what you do daily, with skill and character.