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Quote#Happiness

Morality turns on whether the pleasure precedes or follows the pain.…

Quote bySamuel Butler · 1835–1902

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Part II: Elementary Morality, Morality.

English (original)

Morality turns on whether the pleasure precedes or follows the pain. Thus, it is immoral to get drunk because the headache comes after the drinking, but if the headache came first, and the drunkenness afterwards, it would be moral to get drunk.

— Samuel Butler

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