“The pleasure that is in sorrow is sweeter than the pleasure of pleasure itself.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Romantic poet
A Defence of Poetry http://www.bartleby.com/27/23.html (1821)
Variant translation (reading ipsa): Even pleasure itself is a toil.
Book IV, line 155. Explained by Housman ad loc. The first reading is the correct one in the context.
Astronomica
“The pleasure that is in sorrow is sweeter than the pleasure of pleasure itself.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Romantic poet
A Defence of Poetry http://www.bartleby.com/27/23.html (1821)
“Pleasure of itself is not a vice.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer
April 15, 1778
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III
Epicurus (-341–-269 BC) ancient Greek philosopher
8
Variant translation: No pleasure is itself a bad thing, but the things that produce some kinds of pleasure, bring along with them unpleasantness that is much greater than the pleasure itself.
Sovereign Maxims
Antonio Negri book Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire
109
Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire
Theodor W. Adorno (1903–1969) German sociologist, philosopher and musicologist known for his critical theory of society
Falsch am Positivismus ist, daß er die nun einmal gegebene Arbeitsteilung, die der Wissenschaften von der gesellschaftlichen Praxis und die innerhalb der Wissenschaft, als Maß des Wahren supponiert und keine Theorie erlaubt, welche die Arbeitsteilung selbst als abgeleitet, vermittelt durchsichtig machen, ihrer falschen Autorität entkleiden könnte.
Source: Wozu noch Philosophie? [Why still philosophy?] (1963), p. 10
John Henry Newman (1801–1890) English cleric and cardinal
Discourse V, pt. 6.
The Idea of a University (1873)