How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Bekker #s); all Bekker line numbers are approximate, since they are keyed to the original Greek.
Quote #4
For it is a difficult and august thing to be superior among the fortunate, but easy to be that way among the middling sorts; and to exalt oneself among the former is not a lowborn thing, but to do so among the latter is crude, just as is using one's strength among the weak. (4.3.1124b20-23)
Aristotle's speaking here of the "great souled," powerful, wellborn people with a whole lot of virtue. This person is of somewhat mixed character, according to our modern sensibilities. He's basically a well-intentioned snob.
As such, his job isn't to please the unwashed masses. He needs to shine at the highest levels of society in order to benefit the community. Such a man shouldn't be getting cheap validation from those who are socially miles away from him.
Quote #5
[...] for all agree that what is just in distributions ought to accord with a certain merit. Nevertheless, all do not mean the same thing by merit; rather, democrats say it is freedom; oligarchs, wealth; others, good birth; aristocrats, virtue. (5.3.1131a25-29)
In speaking of distributive justice, Aristotle gives us a mini-analysis of how different types of regimes calculate merit. It's important for Aristotle's social math to determine a correct proportion for the distribution of common goods. Everyone surely should not get exactly the same amount, especially if they don't contribute to society. But how to decide who's worthy presents a problem. Each type of society values certain goods above others, making it difficult to determine an absolute value.
Quote #6
[...] without friends, no one would choose to live, even if he possessed all other goods; and indeed those who are wealthy or have acquired political offices and power seem to be in need of friends most of all. What benefit would there be in such prosperity of one were deprive of [the opportunity to perform] a good deed, which arise and is most praiseworthy in relation to friends especially? Or how could one's prosperity be guarded and preserved without friends? (8.1.1155a8-10)
Friends are imagined here as a kind of social and financial insurance: they give us the opportunity to do good deeds (and thereby gain honor) and they help to protect us from our archenemies, who are clearly interested in ruining us financially.
Aristotle isn't being callous here; he's speaking in practical terms of the benefits of finding allies within the community. Because while living together can offer many good things, the world can get very ugly to us when we're alone—and maybe even more so when fortune's on the line.