"Therefore, explain why a wise person shouldn't get drunk-not with words, but by the facts of its ugliness and offensiveness. It's most easy to prove that so-called pleasures, when they go beyond proper measure, are but punishments."-SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 83.27
("그러므로, 현명한 사람은 왜 취하면 안 되는지를 말로가 아니라 그것의 추악함과 불쾌함이라는 사실로 설명해야 합니다. 이른바 쾌락이 적절한 한계를 넘으면 벌이 될 뿐임을 증명하는 것은 매우 쉽습니다." - 세네카, 도덕적 편지, 83.27)
Is there a less effective technique to persuading people to do something than haranguing them? Is there anything that turns people off more than abstract notions? That's why the Stoics don't say, "Stop doing this, it's a sin." Instead they say, "Don't do this because it will make you miserable." They don't say, "Pleasure isn't pleasurable." They say, "Endless pleasure becomes its own form of punishment." Their methods of persuasion hew the line in The 48 Laws of Power: "Appeal to People's Self-Interest Never to Their Mercy or Gratitude."
If you find yourself trying to persuade someone to change or do something differently, remember what an effective lever self-interest is. It's not that this or that is bad, it's that ...
