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Pleasant it is, when over a great sea the winds trouble the waters, to gaze from shore… — Lucretius

Poem · Didactic poem · Philosophical literature

Pleasant it is, when over a great sea the winds trouble the waters, to gaze from shore upon another's great tribulation: not because any man's troubles are a delectable joy, but because to perceive what ills you are free from yourself is pleasant.

In the original Latin

Suave, mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis e terra magnum alterius spectare laborem; non quia vexari quemquamst iucunda voluptas, sed quibus ipse malis careas quia cernere suavest.

Lucretius
On the Nature of Things · 55 BC
★ 3.7
Provenance
Current citation
Carus, Titus Lucretius. The Nature of Things, translated by Alicia Stallings. Penguin Classics, 2007, bk. 2, l. 1.
Original citation
Carus, Titus Lucretius. De Rerum Natura [On the Nature of Things]. c. 55 BC, bk. 2, l. 1.

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