69 notes, Comments
“
When we say that pleasure is the end, we do not mean the pleasures of the
dissipated and those that consist in having a good time, as some out of
ignorance and disagreement or refusal to understand suppose we do, but
freedom from pain in the body and from disturbance in the soul. For what
produces the pleasant life is not continuous drinking and parties or
pederasty or womanizing or the enjoyment of fish and the other dishes of
an expensive table, but sober reasoning which tracks down the causes of
every choice and avoidance, and which banishes the opinions that beset
souls with the greatest confusion.