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De Finibus Bonorum Et MalorumBut I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was b
orn and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the mast
er-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do n
ot know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves o
r pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure
him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some a
dvantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequence
s, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?
On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pl
easure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame
belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain. The
se cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing pre
vents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided. But in certain circumstances
and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoya
nces accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure oth
er greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.