What are the motifs in Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle?

Responsibility is a recurring idea. It is not enough simply to do virtuous actions, Aristotle claims. They must be done in the correct state of mind and must be done with the correct intention. Each person, because he possesses an intellect capable of decision, must voluntarily decide to develop his character and aim his actions toward virtue. Virtue without this voluntary action is not truly virtue, and neither is vice. If we do something that appears virtuous but only because we fear some kind of punishment, we are not acting in true accordance with virtue, he claims.