QuoteProject
Where perception is, there also are pain and pleasure, and where these are, there, of necessity, is desire.
Aristotle
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Desire exists in the presence of pleasure and pain, shaped by our perceptions.

In this quote, Aristotle suggests that our experiences of pain and pleasure are inherently linked to our perceptions. Desire arises as a natural consequence of these experiences, implying that our understanding and interpretation of the world around us inform our wants and needs. Thus, our emotional responses and aspirations are not just instinctual but heavily influenced by how we perceive our circumstances.

Themes

PerceptionPainPleasureDesirePhilosophy

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion on how our feelings shape our motivations, I might say, 'As Aristotle noted, where perception is, there also are pain and pleasure, and hence, desire.'

More from Aristotle

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
AristotleRead
Those who cannot bravely face danger are the slaves of their attackers.
AristotleRead
For often, when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream.
AristotleRead
You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.
AristotleRead
But if nothing but soul, or in soul mind, is qualified to count, it is impossible for there to be time unless there is soul, but only that of which time is an attribute, i.e. if change can exist without soul.
AristotleRead
The whole is more than the sum of its parts.
AristotleRead

Similar quotes

I intend to leave after my death a large fund for the promotion of the peace idea, but I am skeptical as to its results.
Alfred NobelRead
We can't live in a state of perpetual doubt, so we make up the best story possible and we live as if the story were true.
Daniel KahnemanRead
They do not need the sun. Who needs the sun when the eyes glow? Darkness. A woolen fog has wrapped the earth, has dropped a heavy curtain. From far away, from beyond the curtain, comes the sound of drops falling on stone. Far, far away - the autumn, people, tomorrow. ("The North")
Yevgeny ZamyatinRead
To the extent I am known, I think I am known as a person who expresses his opinion freely about things - and I was sensitive to the possibility that if I was seen taking money for saying nice things about a product, my comments and choices and opinions would become, understandably, suspect.
Anthony BourdainRead
Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.
HomerRead
The aspiration toward freedom is the most essentially human of all human manifestations.
Eric HofferRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.