Quotations about:
    joylessness

Fortune nor home not more the man can cheer,
Who lives a prey to covetise or fear,
Than may a picture’s richest hues delight
Eyes that with dropping rheum are thick of sight,
Or warm soft lotions soothe a gout-racked foot,
Or aching ears be charmed by twangling lute.
On minds unquiet joy has lost its power;
In a foul vessel everything turns sour.

[Qui cupit aut metuit, iuvat ilium sic domus et res,
Ut lippum pictae tabulae, fomenta podagrum,
Auriculas citbarae collecta sorde dolentes.
Sincerumst nisi vas, quodcumque infundis acescit
Sperne voluptate.]

Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]

Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 2 “To Lollius,” l. 51ff (1.2.51-54) (14 BC) [tr. Martin (1881)]
    (Source)

(Source (Latin)). Other translations:

The wisshinge, and the tremblinge chuffe his house and good doth please,
As portraytures the poreblind eyes, as bathes, the gowtie ease.
As musicke dothe delite the eares with matter stuffde, and sore.
The vessels sowers what so it takes if it be fowle before.
[tr. Drant (1567)]

Who fears, or covets: House to him and Ground,
Are Pictures to blind men, Incentives bound
About a gouty Limb, Musick t'an ear
Dam'd up with filth. A vessel not sincere
Sowres whatsoe're you put into't.
[tr. Fanshawe; ed. Brome (1666)]

He that desires or fears, diseas'd in mind,
Wealth profits him as Pictures do the blind;
Plaisters the Gouty Feet; and charming Airs
And sweetest sounds the stuft and troubled Ears:
The musty Vessels sour what they contain.
[tr. Creech (1684)]

Houses and riches gratify the breast
For lucre lusting, or with fear deprest,
As pictures, glowing with a vivid light,
With painful pleasure charm a blemisht sight;
As chafing soothes the gout, or music cheers
The tingling organs of imposthum'd ears.
Your wine grows acid when the cask is foul.
[tr. Francis (1747)]

Who frets or covets, wealth can please no more
Than pictures him whose eyes with rheum run o'er --
Than furst an flannels can the cripple cheer,
Or warbling music charm an aching ear.
Life's every relish lies beyond his power,
As in the tainted vessel all turns sour.
[tr. Howes (1845)]

To him that is a slave to desire or to fear, house and estate do just as much good as paintings to a sore-eyed person, fomentations to the gout, music to ears afflicted with collected matter. Unless the vessel be sweet, whatever you pour into it turns sour.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]

Who fears or hankers, land and country-seat
Soothe just as much as tickling gouty feet,
As pictures charm an eye inflamed and blear,
As music gratifies an ulcered ear.
Unless the vessel whence we drink is pure,
Whate'er is poured therein turns foul, be sure.
[tr. Conington (1874)]

A house and wealth afford like pleasure to him who is covetous or fearful, as paintings do to a person with defective sightk, fomentations to a gouty man, or music to those whose ears suffer from accumulated dirt. Except a jar be clean, whatever you may pour in turns sour.
[tr. Elgood (1893)]

If a mind is bound by greed or harassed by fears, his house, his home and all his possessions will give him no more pleasure than paintings do to the blind, warm blankets the feverish or music the deaf. In an unclean pitcher sweet milk soon turns sour.
[tr. Dana/Dana (1911)]

To one with fears or cravings, house and fortune give as much pleasure as painted panels to sore eyes, warm wraps to the gout, or citherns to ears that suffer from secreted matter. Unless the vessel is clean, whatever you pour in turns sour.
[tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1926)]

His house and estate are as much of a pleasure to him
Who wants something more (or is deathly afraid he won't get it)
As dazzling canvases are to a man with sore eyes,
Or nice wram robes to a man who suffers from gout,
Or the music of mournful guitars to infected ears.
If the vase isn't clean, whatever you put in turns sour.
[tr. Palmer Bovie (1959)]

A man who desires or fears enjoys his good as much
as a sore-eyed man likes art, a man with gout
fine shoes, someone with wax-plugged hears a cithara.
Anything you pour into a dirty pot gets spoiled.
[tr. Fuchs (1977)]

A miser, or a man endlessly
Greedy, enjoys his mansion, his rolling meadows, as much
As a sore-eyed man takes pleasure in paintings, a gouty man relishes
Hot cloths, a man with pus-filled ears loves music.
If the cup isn't clean, everything you drink is dirty.
[tr. Raffel (1983)]

If your life is governed
By cravings for what you lack, or else by fear
Of losing what you have, then what you have,
Your house and your possessions, give you as much
Pleasure as a picture gives a blind man,
Or an elegant pair of shoes gives a man with gout,
Or music gives to an ear stuffed up with wax.
A glass that isn't clean will guarantee
That whatever you pour into it will sour.
[tr. Ferry (2001)]

A man with fear or desire has as much pleasure from his house
and possessions as sore eyes from a picture, gouty feet
from muffs, or ears from a lyre when aching with lumps of dirt.
When a jar is unclean, whatever you fill it with soon goes sour.
[tr. Rudd (2005 ed.)]

House and fortune grant
As much pleasure to one who’s full of fear and craving
As painting to sore eyes, poultice to gouty joint,
Or lute to ears that ache from accumulated wax.
Unless the jar is clean whatever you pour in sours.
[tr. Kline (2015)]