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Quote by Clement of Alexandria

“Since the fact that pleasure is not a good thing is admitted from the fact that certain pleasures are evil, by this reason good appears evil, and evil good. And then, if we choose some pleasures and shun others, it is not every pleasure that is a good thing. Similarly, also, the same rule holds with pains, some of which we endure, and others we shun. But choice and avoidance are exercised according to knowledge; so that it is not pleasure that is the good thing, but knowledge by which we shall choose a pleasure at a certain time, and of a certain kind. Now the martyr chooses the pleasure that exists in prospect through the present pain. If pain is conceived as existing in thirst, and pleasure in drinking, the pain that has preceded becomes the efficient cause of pleasure. But evil cannot be the efficient cause of good. Neither, then, is the one thing nor the other evil.”

Quote by Clement of Alexandria

Book:Volume 12. The Writings of Clement of Alexandria
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Volume 12. The Writings of Clement of Alexandria

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Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria was a prominent theologian in the 2nd to 3rd centuries AD, known as one of the founders of the Alexandrian Church. His writings had a profound impact on the development of Christian theology, particularly his works 'The Stromata' and 'Against the Gnostics'. more

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