“ No enjoyment equals the satisfaction we receive from the company of those we love and esteem; as the greatest of all punishments is to be obliged to pass our lives with those we hate or contemn. ”
David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (1738). copy citation
| Author | David Hume |
|---|---|
| Source | A Treatise of Human Nature |
| Topic | satisfaction enjoyment |
| Date | 1738 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4705/4705-h/4705-h.htm |
Context
“Every moments experience must convince us of this. There is no spectacle so fair and beautiful as a noble and generous action; nor any which gives us more abhorrence than one that is cruel and treacherous. No enjoyment equals the satisfaction we receive from the company of those we love and esteem; as the greatest of all punishments is to be obliged to pass our lives with those we hate or contemn. A very play or romance may afford us instances of this pleasure, which virtue conveys to us; and pain, which arises from vice.
Now since the distinguishing impressions, by which moral good or evil is known, are nothing but particular pains or pleasures;”
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