The Complete Aristotle (eng.)

good. Further, pleasure is the consciousness
through the senses of a certain kind of emotion; but imagination is
a feeble sort of sensation, and there will always be in the mind of
a man who remembers or expects something an image or picture of
what he remembers or expects. If this is so, it is clear that
memory and expectation also, being accompanied by sensation, may be
accompanied by pleasure. It follows that anything pleasant is
either present and perceived, past and remembered, or future and
expected, since we perceive present pleasures, remember past ones,
and expect future ones. Now the things that are pleasant to
remember are not only those that, when actually perceived as
present, were pleasant, but also some things that were not,
provided that their results have subsequently proved noble and
good. Hence the words
Sweet ‘tis when rescued to remember pain,
    and
Even his griefs are a joy long after to one that remembers
All that he wrought and endured.
    The reason of this is that it is pleasant even to be merely free
from evil. The things it is pleasant to expect are those that when
present are felt to afford us either great delight or great but not
painful benefit. And in general, all the things that delight us
when they are present also do so, as a rule, when we merely
remember or expect them. Hence even being angry is pleasant-Homer
said of wrath that
Sweeter it is by far than the honeycomb dripping with
sweetness-
    for no one grows angry with a person on whom there is no
prospect of taking vengeance, and we feel comparatively little
anger, or none at all, with those who are much our superiors in
power. Some pleasant feeling is associated with most of our
appetites we are enjoying either the memory of a past pleasure or
the expectation of a future one, just as persons down with fever,
during their attacks of thirst, enjoy remembering the drinks they
have had and looking forward to having more. So also a lover enjoys
talking or writing about his loved one, or doing any little thing
connected with him; all these things recall him to memory and make
him actually present to the eye of imagination. Indeed, it is
always the first sign of love, that besides enjoying some one’s
presence, we remember him when he is gone, and feel pain as well as
pleasure, because he is there no longer. Similarly there is an
element of pleasure even in mourning and lamentation for the
departed. There is grief, indeed, at his loss, but pleasure in
remembering him and as it were seeing him before us in his deeds
and in his life. We can well believe the poet when he says
He spake, and in each man’s heart he awakened
the love of lament.
    Revenge, too, is pleasant; it is pleasant to get anything that
it is painful to fail to get, and angry people suffer extreme pain
when they fail to get their revenge; but they enjoy the prospect of
getting it. Victory also is pleasant, and not merely to ‘bad
losers’, but to every one; the winner sees himself in the light of
a champion, and everybody has a more or less keen appetite for
being that. The pleasantness of victory implies of course that
combative sports and intellectual contests are pleasant (since in
these it often happens that some one wins) and also games like
knuckle-bones, ball, dice, and draughts. And similarly with the
serious sports; some of these become pleasant when one is
accustomed to them; while others are pleasant from the first, like
hunting with hounds, or indeed any kind of hunting. For where there
is competition, there is victory. That is why forensic pleading and
debating contests are pleasant to those who are accustomed to them
and have the capacity for them. Honour and good repute are among
the most pleasant things of all; they make a man see himself in the
character of a fine fellow, especially when he is credited with it
by people whom he thinks good judges. His neighbours are better
judges than people at a distance; his associates and
fellow-countrymen better than strangers; his contemporaries better
than posterity; sensible persons better than foolish ones; a large
number of people better than a small number: those of the former
class, in each case, are the more likely to be good judges of him.
Honour and credit bestowed by those whom you think much inferior to
yourself-e.g. children or animals-you do not value: not for its own
sake, anyhow: if you do value it, it is for some other reason.
Friends belong to the class of pleasant things; it is pleasant