Some joys, it’s true, are wrong in Heaven’s eyes;
Yet Heaven is not averse to compromise.[Le ciel défend, de vrai, certains contentements;
Mais on trouve avec lui des accommodements.]Molière (1622-1673) French playwright, actor [stage name for Jean-Baptiste Poquelin]
Tartuffe, Act 4, sc. 5 [Tartuffe to Elmire] (1664) [tr. Wilbur (1961)]
(Source)
Moliere inserts a note in this line, "A scoundrel is speaking [C’est un scélérat qui parle.]"
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:
Heaven, it is true, forbids certain gratifications, but there are ways and means of compounding such matters.
[tr. Van Laun (c. 1870)]
Heaven, it is true, forbids certain gratifications; but there are ways of compounding these matters.
[tr. Mathew (1890)]
Heaven forbids, 't is true, some satisfactions;
But we find means to make things right with Heaven.
[tr. Page (1909)]
It's true that heaven forbids some satisfactions,
But there are possible ways to understandings.
[tr. Bishop (1957)]
It's true, there are some pleasures Heaven denies;
But there are ways to reach a compromise.
[tr. Frame (1967)]
It's true that Heaven forbids certain pleasures,
but it's possible to make bargains.
[tr. Steiner (2008)]
Heaven forbids, in truth, certain contentments;
But we find with him accomodations.
[Source]
It's true Heaven forbids some pleasures, but a compromise can usually be found.
[E.g.]
Quotations about:
gratification
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
The belief that all higher life is governed by the idea of renunciation poisons our moral life by engendering vanity and egotism. But if we take gratification as our ideal we thereby impose on ourselves a program of self-restraint; for if we claim that we are under the necessity of learning all that we can about reality, and that we learn most through pleasure, we must also admit that we are under the necessity of hearing what our fellow-creatures learn about it and of working out a system by which we will curb our pleasures so that they do not interfere with those of others. If, however, we claim that it is by renunciation that we achieve wisdom, we have no logical reason for feeling any disapproval of conditions that thrust pain and deprivation on others.
Rebecca West (1892-1983) British author, journalist, literary critic, travel writer [pseud. for Cicily Isabel Fairfield]
“Pleasure Be Your Guide,” The Nation, “Living Philosophies” series #10 (25 Feb 1939)
(Source)
Adapted into Clifton Fadiman, I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Certain Eminent Men and Women of Our Time (1952).
It is of the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it.
[ἄπειρος γὰρ ἡ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας φύσις, ἧς πρὸς τὴν ἀναπλήρωσιν οἱ πολλοὶ]
Aristotle (384-322 BC) Greek philosopher
Politics [Πολιτικά], Book 2, ch. 7, sec. 19 / 1267b.4 [tr. Jowett (1885)]
(Source)
Original Greek. Alt. trans.:
- "For it is the nature of our desires to be boundless, and many live only to gratify them." [tr. Ellis (1912)]
- "For appetite is in its nature unlimited, and the majority of mankind live for the satisfaction of appetite." [tr. Rackham (1924)]
- "For the nature of desire is without limit, and it is with a view to satisfying this that the many live. [tr. Lord (1984)]
There is a sort of gratification in doing good which makes us rejoice in ourselves.
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
“Of Repentance,” Essays (1588) [tr. Frame (1958)]
How little a thing can make us happy when we feel that we have earned it.
Let this be one invariable rule of your conduct — Never to show the least symptom of resentment which you cannot to a certain degree gratify, but always to smile, where you cannot strike.
Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #312 (26 Mar 1754)
Excellence is lost sight of in the hunger for sudden performance and praise.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Success,” Society and Solitude (1870)
Thus in all things the greatest pleasures are only narrowly separated from disgust.
[Sic omnibus in rebus, voluptatibus maximis fastidium finitimum est.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
De Oratore [On the Orator, On Oratory], Book 3, ch. 25 (3.25) / sec. 100 (55 BC) [tr. Rackham (1942)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:
Thus, generally speaking, Loathing borders upon the most pleasing Sensations.
[tr. Guthrie (1755)]
Thus, generally speaking, satiety borders upon the most pleasing sensations.
[Source (1808)]
In all other things, loathing still borders upon the most exquisite delights.
[tr. Watson (1860)]
The extremes of gratification and disgust are separated by the finest line of demarcation.
[tr. Calvert (1870)]
In everything we do, all our keenest pleasures end in satiety.
[ed. Harbottle (1906)]
In everything else, then, the greatest pleasure borders on aversion.
[tr. May/Wisse (2001)]
