The Theory Of Sport

But I must expla­in to you how all this mista­ken idea of deno­un­cing ple­asu­re and pra­ising pain was born and I will give you a com­ple­te acco­unt of the sys­tem, and expo­und the actu­al teachings of the gre­at explo­rer of the truth, the master-buil­der of human hap­pi­ness. No one rejects, disli­kes, or avo­ids ple­asu­re itself, becau­se it is ple­asu­re, but becau­se tho­se who do not know how to pur­sue ple­asu­re ratio­nal­ly enco­un­ter con­se­qu­en­ces that are extre­me­ly painful.

Nor aga­in is the­re any­one who loves or pur­su­es or desi­res to obta­in pain of itself, becau­se it is pain, but becau­se occa­sio­nal­ly cir­cum­stan­ces occur in which toil and pain can pro­cu­re him some gre­at ple­asu­re. Ut enim ad mini­ma veniam, quis nostrum exer­ci­ta­tio­nem ullam cor­po­ris susci­pit labo­rio­sam, nisi ut ali­qu­id ex ea com­mo­di con­se­qu­atur? Quis autem vel eum iure repre­hen­de­rit qui in ea volup­ta­te velit esse quam nihil mole­stiae con­se­qu­atur, vel illum qui dolo­rem eum fugiat quo volup­tas nul­la pariatur.

To take a tri­vial exam­ple, which of us ever under­ta­kes labo­rio­us phy­si­cal exer­ci­se, except to obta­in some advan­ta­ge from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who cho­oses to enjoy a ple­asu­re that has no annoy­ing con­se­qu­en­ces, or one who avo­ids a pain that pro­du­ces no resul­tant ple­asu­re. At vero eos et accu­sa­mus et iusto odio dignis­si­mos duci­mus qui blan­di­tiis pra­esen­tium volup­ta­tum dele­ni­ti atque cor­rup­ti quos dolo­res et quas mole­stias excep­tu­ri sint occa­eca­ti cupi­di­ta­te non pro­vi­dent, simi­li­que sunt in cul­pa qui offi­cia dese­runt mol­li­tia ani­mi, id est labo­rum et dolo­rum fuga. Et harum quidem rerum faci­lis est et expe­di­ta distinctio.