In such cases the enjoyment of another plays the part of a reflector, which throws one's own enjoyment back on one.

Nor is this all.

It is not only true that we often desire others to be pleased with us; we often desire others to be pleased instead of us.

For instance, if there be but one easy chair in a room, one man will often give it up to another, and prefer himself to stand, or perhaps sit on the table.

To contemplate discomfort is often more annoying than to suffer it.
This is the fact in human nature on which the positive school rely for their practical motive power.